The 2006 carbon dioxide emissions of every facility in Germany participating in emissions trading have now been made public. How many free emissions allowances were allocated to installation operators by the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at the Federal Environment Agency (UBA)? How much carbon dioxide (CO₂) did the installation actually emit in 2005 and 2006? This information has now been made available for perusal in the public part of the National Emissions Trading Registry of the DEHSt at UBA. UBA President Prof. Dr. Andreas Troge commented, “Annual accounting guarantees a high degree of transparency in emissions trading.”

Save for a few exceptional cases, operators resubmitted a sufficient number of emissions allowances to DEHSt on time. In the other cases DEHSt is reviewing whether a fine of 40 euros per lacking allowance will become necessary, as foreseen by European regulation.

There was an overall slight rise in total emissions of 0.8 percent to 477.4 million tonnes CO₂ in the emissions trading sector as compared to the previous year. This corroborates the general trend in CO₂ emissions in Germany. With regard to economic growth for 2006, which was 2.5 percent, this increase is clearly disproportionate. Installations which entered the market recently and received additional emissions allowances from the National Reserve are in part responsible for the increase.

Emissions trading is a flexible instrument of the Kyoto Protocol with which to curb the volume of annual carbon dioxide emissions. Emissions trading of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas carbon dioxide started in the European Union on 1 January 2005. Participating enterprises in the energy sector and energy-intensive industries were allocated emission allowances free of charge during the 2005-2007 trading period, receiving somewhat less from one trading period to the next. Enterprises that demonstrate greater efforts to reduce emissions or which operate particularly innovatively may sell the surplus certificates they thereby earn. Those who do too little must buy allowances. 30 April of a calendar year marks the date for rendering account: all installation operators must hand in the number of emissions allowances equal to their actual emissions produced in the preceding year.

The DEHSt at UBA plays a key role in emissions trading in Germany. It is in charge of allocating certificates to participating installations in Germany and manages trading accounts. DEHSt also collects data on installation emissions, reviews these figures, and publicises this information.

More information is available in the background paper Pressehintergrundpapier (in German) [Assessment of actual emissions in emissions trading sector: Germany 2006].

The achievement status of every installation subject to emissions trading is listed at Public Reports of the Registry .