On 29 May 2024, we, the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt), published an evaluation report on the main results of the offsetting of European Emissions Trading System 1 (EU ETS 1) installations in national emissions trading (nEHS) for the first time in accordance with Section 11 of the BEHG Double-Balancing Ordinance (BEDV). The report shows that in the 2021 and 2022 accounting years, there was only a very small amount of double counting of emissions and thus a temporary financial double burden on installation operators in the EU ETS 1.

The applications for offsetting by installations in EU ETS 1 for the 2021 accounting year comprised around 0.79 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions to be offset. This is only 0.3 percent of the nEHS emissions or 0.2 percent of EU ETS 1 emissions in 2021. As part of the 2021 offsetting procedure, 257 applications were processed and financial compensation amounting to around 19.9 million euros was paid out. For the 2022 accounting year, the amount of CO₂ emissions to be offset was slightly higher at around 1.35 million tonnes of CO₂, but also only 0.5 percent of nEHS emissions or 0.4 percent of EU ETS 1 emissions. At the same time, the number of applications received rose to 371 and the financial compensation paid out increased to around 40.5 million euros.

The results show that the mechanisms introduced to avoid double counting work effectively.