COMMISSION DECISION
of 18 July 2007
establishing guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
(notified under document number C(2007) 3416)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2007/589/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (1), and in particular Article 14(1) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
The complete, consistent, transparent and accurate monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the guidelines laid down in this Decision are fundamental for the operation of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme established in Directive 2003/87/EC.
(2)
During the first compliance cycle of the greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, covering the year 2005, operators, verifiers and competent authorities of Member States have gathered first experience of monitoring, verifying and reporting pursuant to Commission Decision 2004/156/EC of 29 January 2004 establishing guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (2).
(3)
Following the review of Decision 2004/156/EC, it was apparent that the guidelines laid down in that Decision required several changes in order to render them more clear and cost-efficient. Due to the substantial number of amendments it is appropriate to replace Decision 2004/156/EC.
(4)
It is appropriate to facilitate the application of the guidelines for installations with average verified reported emissions of less than 25 000 tonnes of fossil CO2 per year during the previous trading period, as well as to achieve further harmonization and clarify technical issues.
(5)
Where applicable, account has been taken of the guidance on the monitoring of greenhouse gases as developed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO), the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Institute (WRI).
(6)
The information provided by operators pursuant to this Decision should facilitate the cross-attribution of emissions reported under Directive 2003/87/EC with emissions reported to the European Pollutants Release and Transfer Register (EPRTR) established by Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register and amending Council Directives 91/689/EEC and 96/61/EC (3) as well as with emissions reported in national inventories using the different source categories of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
(7)
By increasing the overall cost-effectiveness of monitoring methodologies, without compromising the accuracy of reported emission data and the overall integrity of the monitoring systems, operators and competent authorities should generally be able to meet their obligations under Directive 2003/87/EC at significantly reduced costs. This applies in particular to plants using pure biomass fuels and to small emitters.
(8)
The reporting requirements have been aligned with those under Article 21 of Directive 2003/87/EC.
(9)
The requirements for the monitoring plan have been clarified and made more stringent in order to better reflect its importance in ensuring sound reporting and robust verification results.
(10)
Table 1 specifying minimum requirements set out in Annex I should be for permanent use. The specific entries in that Table have been reviewed based on information collected by Member States, operators and verifiers, taking into account the changes made to the provisions regarding combustion emissions from activities listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC and to the activity specific guidelines and should now reflect an appropriate balance between cost-effectiveness and accuracy.
(11)
A fall-back approach with minimum uncertainty thresholds has been introduced in order to provide an alternative route for the monitoring of emissions from very specific or complex installations exempting those installations from the application of the tier-based approach and enabling the design of a fully customized monitoring methodology.
(12)
The provisions concerning transferred and inherent CO2 entering or leaving installations covered by Directive 2003/87/EC as pure substance or fuel have been clarified and made more stringent, in order to improve the consistency with the reporting requirements of Member States under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
(13)
The list of reference emission factors has been expanded and updated using information from the 2006 Guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, hereinafter ‘the IPCC guidelines’. The list has also been extended with reference values for net calorific values for a wide range of fuels based on the IPCC Guidelines.
(14)
The Section on control and verification has been reviewed and revised in order to improve conceptual and linguistic consistency with guidance developed by the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA), the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and ISO.
(15)
As regards the determination of fuel and material properties, the requirements for the use of results from analytical laboratories and online gas analysers have been clarified taking into account the experience from the implementation of the respective requirements across Member States during the first trading period. Additional requirements on sampling methods and frequencies have also been provided.
(16)
To improve the cost-effectiveness for installations with annual emissions of less than 25 000 tonnes of fossil CO2 certain exemptions from the specific requirements applying to installations in general have been added.
(17)
The use of oxidation factors for the purposes of the monitoring methodology has been made optional for combustion processes. A mass-balance approach has been added for installations producing carbon black and for gas processing terminals. The uncertainty requirements for the determination of emissions from flares have been lowered in order to reflect the specific technical conditions of these facilities.
(18)
The mass-balance approach should not be part of the activity-specific guidelines for mineral oil refineries as listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC due to the problems reported during the first reporting in respect to the achievable accuracy. Guidance for catalytic cracker regeneration, other catalyst regeneration and flexi-cokers emissions has been revised to reflect the specific technical conditions of those facilities.
(19)
The provisions and thresholds for the application of the mass-balance approach have been made stricter for installations producing coke, sinter, iron and steel. Emission factors from the IPCC guidelines have been added.
(20)
The terminology and methodologies for installations producing cement clinker and for installations producing lime have been aligned with commercial practices of the sectors covered by this Decision. The use of activity data, emission factor and conversion factor has been made consistent with the other activities covered under Directive 2003/87/EC.
(21)
Additional emission factors have been provided in Annex IX for installations from the glass industry.
(22)
The uncertainty requirements for emissions from the calcination of raw materials for installations from the ceramics industry have been made less stringent to better reflect situations in which clays origin directly from quarries. The purely output-based method should no longer be used because of its limited applicability as observed during the first reporting cycle.
(23)
Specific guidelines for the determination of greenhouse gas emissions by continuous emission measurement systems should be added to facilitate a consistent use of measurement-based monitoring approaches commensurate to Articles 14 and 24 and Annex IV of Directive 2003/87/EC.
(24)
Recognition of activities relating to carbon capture and storage is not provided for in this Decision, but will depend on an amendment of Directive 2003/87/EC or on the inclusion of those activities pursuant to Article 24 of that Directive.
(25)
The guidelines contained in the Annexes to this Decision set out the revised detailed criteria for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the activities listed in Annex I of Directive 2003/87/EC. These are specified in relation to those activities, based on the principles for monitoring and reporting set out in Annex IV of that Directive that should apply as of 1 January 2008.
(26)
Article 15 of Directive 2003/87/EC requires Member States to ensure that reports submitted by operators are verified in accordance with the criteria set out in Annex V of that Directive.
(27)
It is envisaged that a further review of the guidelines laid down in this Decision will be carried out within two years of its date of applicability.
(28)
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 8 of Decision 93/389/EEC (4),
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from the activities listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC are set out in the Annexes to this Decision.
Those guidelines are based on the principles set out in Annex IV to that Directive.
Article 2
Decision 2004/156/EC is repealed from the date referred to in Article 3.
Article 3
This Decision shall apply from 1 January 2008.
Article 4
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 18 July 2007.