National emissions trading: Sell-off to start in October 2021

Mann mit TabletClick to enlarge
First sales on the EEX Energy Exchange are scheduled for October 2021
Source: svetazi - stock.adobe.com

The first sell-off session in the national fuel emissions trading system (German: nEHS) is expected to be on 5 October 2021, as scheduled in an agreement between the European Energy Exchange (EEX) and the German Environment Agency (UBA). The sales sessions on the European Energy Exchange (EEX) will be held twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) for six hours each from 9.30 until 15.30 CET. The last session in 2021 is on 7 December. Further details are available in the EEX sell-off calendar.

The nEHS means that a CO2 price has applied for the heating and transport sectors in Germany at national level since 1 January 2021. For every tonne of CO2 that is emitted during the combustion of fuel, an emission allowance ("nEHS allowance") must be purchased and surrendered in the register for national emissions trading (nEHS register) of the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at the UBA. The nEHS will initially have a legally defined fixed price phase until 2025. The fixed price for an nEHS certificate and thus for a tonne of CO2 will start this year at 25 euros, gradually increase to 55 euros by 2025 and then switch to an auction procedure starting in 2026. The number of available nEHS certificates is unlimited during the fixed-price phase.

The nEHS includes all fuels covered by the Energy Duty Tax: petrol, diesel, heating oil, liquid gas, natural gas and, as of 2023, coal. The obligated parties under the nEHS are those companies and organisations which place fuels on the market, for example natural gas suppliers or companies in the mineral oil industry. Direct access for these obligated parties under the nEHS is possible since 9 August 2021 at http://www.nehs-zulassung.com/. Indirect access to the sell-off is offered via several intermediaries that are listed on the nEHS website.

The prerequisite for the acquisition of nEHS certificates via the EEX is the timely opening of an account in the nEHS Registry. An account in the nEHS Registry is therefore already necessary this year in order to acquire nEHS certificates for the current year on EEX. Applications to open an account must be submitted to the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at UBA. DEHSt strongly recommends that all Fuel Emissions Trading Act managers submit their application in good time in order to be able to participate in the sales procedure this year.

The DEHSt at UBA is responsible for the enforcement of the nEHS and has commissioned the EEX with the auctioning of nEHS certificates.

Umweltbundesamt Headquarters

Wörlitzer Platz 1
06844 Dessau-Roßlau
Germany

Share:
Article:
Printer-friendly version
Tags:
 nEHS-Register  European Energy Exchange  EEX  emissions trading