Am I affected by the reporting obligation?
As part of the ‘Fit for 55 Package’, the Emissions Trading Directive was amended at EU level to include a reporting obligation for municipal waste incineration plants with a rated thermal input of more than 20 megawatts. At national level, the European requirements of this directive were being transposed into national law through the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Act (TEHG).
Based on the information available with the monitoring plans for national emissions trading, DEHSt has identified those installations or parts of installations that are also subject to the reporting obligation in EU ETS 1 from 01/01/2024. The operators of installations that have been identified as subject to reporting in EU ETS 1 have been informed by letter.
How is the reporting obligation determined?
The reporting obligation of waste incineration plants in EU ETS 1 is determined with the approval of the EU ETS 1 monitoring plan for waste incineration plants by the DEHSt. The issuing of an emissions licence by the state authorities is not envisaged.
Obligations of the operators
The TEHG came into force on 06/03/2025. We have agreed the following indicative schedule with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection for the monitoring plan and the emissions report to be verified for the 2024 reporting year:
Prepare and submit a monitoring plan
We have provided the FMS application ‘3-in-1 monitoring plan’ for the creation of monitoring plans. Based on the monitoring plan approved in the nEHS, you create the monitoring plan for the reporting obligation in EU ETS 1 and submit it to us via the DEHSt mailbox on the DEHSt platform by 06/06/2025. This allows synergies to be utilised for the preparation of the EU ETS 1 emissions report 2024. We will then check and approve the monitoring plan.Prepare and submit an emissions report
Based on the monitoring plan, you create the 2024 emissions report in the FMS application ‘3-in-1 Emissions Report 2024’. We expect to make this available in summer 2025. We will inform you about the go-live in a newsletter. The verification body will verify and prepare the test report/test certificate after the operator has recorded the data in the FMS application ‘3-in-1 Emissions Report 2024’. You are expected to submit the verified 2024 emissions report to us via the DEHSt mailbox on the DEHSt platform in autumn 2025.
Differences to National Emissions Trading System and Utilisation of Synergies
From 01/01/2024, certain waste incineration plants will be subject to obligations under both the European Emissions Trading System 1 (EU ETS 1) and the national emissions trading system (nEHS).
- Companies with installations that are subject to authorisation under number 8.1.1 or 8.1.2 with waste oil as the main fuel in accordance with Annex 1 of the 4th BImSchV and that are not already fully subject to the reporting and surrender obligation in EU ETS 1 must report the emissions from the waste fuels used in the nEHS and surrender nEHS allowances for this.
- Operators of municipal waste incineration plants with a rated thermal input greater than 20 megawatts must also monitor and report their emissions in EU ETS 1. However, there is no obligation to surrender EU emission allowances. The exemption for the incineration of hazardous waste remains in place. This means that plants for the incineration of hazardous waste are not covered by the pure reporting obligation of EU ETS 1.
The monitoring methods in the nEHS (EBeV 2030) can be transferred to the system of monitoring methods in EU ETS 1 (MVO).
Therefore, the data collection for installations that are covered by both the reporting and submission obligation in the nEHS and the reporting obligation in EU ETS 1 is based on the existing data structure for the nEHS. This avoids having to re-enter data that has already been submitted into the FMS application.
Guidelines and further assistance
The guideline provides an overview of the requirements of the Monitoring Regulation for the reporting obligation in the EU ETS 1 and the eligibility of the methods from the nEHS for fulfilling this reporting obligation. It also contains further explanations on how to set up and fill in the corresponding FMS forms.
Leitfaden zur Erstellung von Überwachungsplänen für Anlagen zur Verbrennung von Siedlungsabfällen (07/04/2025, PDF, 2MB, File does not meet accessibility standards)
(available in German only)