REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Report to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount of the European Union, and the report to facilitate the calculation of the joint assigned amount of the Union, its Member States and Iceland pursuant to Article 3(7bis), (8) and (8bis) of the Kyoto Protocol for the second commitment period, as required under Article 3(2) of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1339
Date: 2016-09-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, Iceland, Kyoto Protocol, emission trading, greenhouse gas, reduction of gas emissions, tradeable emission permit

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 23.9.2016  COM(2016) 618 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Report to facilitate the calculation of the assigned amount of the European Union, and the report to facilitate the calculation of the joint assigned amount of the Union, its Member States and Iceland pursuant to Article 3(7bis), (8) and (8bis) of the Kyoto Protocol for the second commitment period, as required under Article 3(2) of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1339 {SWD(2016) 316 final}  
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This  report  and  the  accompanying  Staff  Working  Document  constitute  the  report  to 
facilitate  the  calculation  of  the  assigned  amount  of  the  European  Union  (EU),  and  the 
report to facilitate the calculation of the joint assigned amount of the Union, its Member 
States and Iceland pursuant to Article 3(7bis), (8) and (8bis) of the Kyoto Protocol for the 
second commitment period and to demonstrate the capacity of the EU, its Member States 
and  Iceland  to  account  for  their  emissions  and  assigned  amount  in  accordance  with 
decision 2/CMP.8 of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties 
to  the  Kyoto  Protocol,  as  required  under  Article  3(2)  of  Council  Decision  (EU) 
2015/13391. They will be transmitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  

The  calculation  of  the  assigned  amount  under  the  Kyoto  Protocol  in  this  report  is  a 
precondition for the accounting of the EU’s greenhouse gas emission reduction target in 
the  second  commitment  period  under  the  Kyoto  Protocol.  This  report  also  includes 
information  on  the  choices  related  to  specific  accounting  options  under  the  Kyoto 
Protocol. 

2. 

INVENTORIES  OF  ANTHROPOGENIC  EMISSIONS  BY  SOURCES  AND  REMOVALS  BY 
SINKS OF GREENHOUSE GASES NOT CONTROLLED BY THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL 

The  complete  joint  inventory  of  anthropogenic  emissions  by  sources  and  removals  by 
sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol for all years from the 
base year to the year 2014 for the EU, its Member States and Iceland is submitted to the 
UNFCCC  as  a  separate  document  in  conjunction  with  this  report  in  accordance  with 
paragraph 1(a) of Annex I to Decision 2/CMP.8. 

3. 

IDENTIFICATION OF BASE YEARS FOR THE SECOND COMMITMENT PERIOD 

The joint inventory reflects the base years as chosen by the Member States and Iceland in 
their national inventories. An overview is presented below:  

1 Council Decision (EU) 2015/1339 of 13 July 2015 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, 
of  the  Doha  Amendment  to  the  Kyoto  Protocol  to  the  United  Nations  Framework  Convention  on 
Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder, OJ L 207, 4.8.2015. p. 1-14. 

 
 
 
                                                 
Table 1  
States and Iceland for the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol 

Choice  of  base  years  for  different  greenhouse  gases  for  the  EU  Member 

Member State 

Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 
Iceland 

Base year for CO2, CH4 
and N2O 

1990 
1990 
1988 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1985-1987 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1988 
1990 
1989 
1990 
1986 
1990 
1990 
1990 
1990 

Base year for HFCs, 
PFCs  
and SF6 
1990 
1995 
1995 
1990 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1990 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1990 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1990 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1989 
1990 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1990 

Base year for NF3 

2000 
1995 
1995 
2000 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
2000 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
2000 
2000 
2000 
2000 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 
1995 

4.  TERMS OF THE JOINT FULFILMENT UNDER ARTICLE 4 OF THE KYOTO PROTOCOL 

FOR THE SECOND COMMITMENT PERIOD 

The  EU,  its  Member  States  and  Iceland  have  agreed  to  fulfil  their  quantified  emission 
limitation  and  reduction  commitments  under  Article  3  of  the  Kyoto  Protocol  for  the 
second  commitment  period  to  the  Kyoto  Protocol  jointly,  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  Article  4  thereof.  The  Union,  its  Member  States  and  Iceland  agreed  to  a 
quantified emission reduction commitment that limits their average annual emissions of 
greenhouse gases during the second commitment period to 80 % of the sum of their base 
year emissions, which is reflected in the Doha Amendment.  

Article  4  of  the  Kyoto  Protocol  requires  parties  that  agree  to  fulfil  their  commitments 
under  Article  3  of  the  Kyoto  Protocol  jointly  to  set  out  in  the  relevant  joint  fulfilment 
agreement the respective emission level allocated to each of the parties. Council Decision 
(EU)  2015/1339  sets  out  the  terms  of  the  joint  fulfilment  agreement  as  well  as  the 
respective emission levels of each Party to that agreement. The Agreement between the 
EU,  its    Member  States  and  Iceland,  concerning  Iceland's  participation  in  the  joint 
fulfilment  of  commitments  by  the  EU,  its  Member  States  and  Iceland  for  the  second 
commitment  period  of  the  Kyoto  Protocol  sets  out  the  terms  governing  Iceland's 

3 

 
participation.2      The  emission  levels  define  the  Member  States’  and  Iceland’s  assigned 
amounts  for  the  second  commitment  period.    These  emission  levels  have  been 
determined on the basis of the existing Union legislation for the period 2013-2020 under 
the ‘Climate and Energy package’3.  

5. 

  CALCULATION OF THE ASSIGNED AMOUNTS PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 3(7BIS), (8) 
AND (8BIS)  

The  joint  assigned  amount  of  the  EU,  its  Member  States  and  Iceland  for  the  second 
commitment  period  of  the  Kyoto  Protocol  is  equal  to  the  percentage  inscribed  for  the 
Union,  its  Member  States  and  Iceland  in  the  third  column  of  Annex  B  to  the  Kyoto 
Protocol  as  replaced  by  the  Doha  Amendment  (80  %)  of  its  base  year  emissions 
multiplied  by  eight.  The  joint  assigned  amount  resulting  from  this  calculation  is  
37 625 402 324 tonnes of CO2eq.  

This  assigned  amount  of  the  EU  is  determined  in  line  with  the  terms  of  the  joint 
fulfilment agreement and equals 15 834 334 860 tonnes of CO2eq.  

The  assigned  amounts  of  the  Member  States  and  Iceland  are  also  determined  in 
accordance with the terms of the joint fulfilment agreement and are listed in Table 2.  

2 OJ L 207, 4.8.2015, p. 17  

3   Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC 
so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the Community 
and Decision No 406/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the 
effort  of  Member  States  to  reduce  their  greenhouse  gas  emissions  to  meet  the  Community’s 
greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020, OJ L 140, 5.6. 2009. 

4 

 
                                                 
Table 2 
account Article 3, paragraph 7bis of the Kyoto Protocol) 

Assigned  amounts  of  the  Member  States  and  Iceland  (taking  into 

Member State 

Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 
Iceland 

t CO2 eq. 

405 712 317 
584 228 513 
222 945 983 
162 271 086 
47 450 128 
520 515 203 
269 363 657 
51 056 976 
240 544 599 
3 014 714 832 
3 592 699 888 
480 791 166 
434 486 280 
343 520 594 
2 410 291 421 
76 633 439 
113 600 821 
72 191 526 
9 299 769 
924 777 902 
1 583 938 824 
429 581 969 
656 059 490 
202 268 939 
99 425 782 
1 766 877 232 
315 554 578 
2 744 937 332 
15 327 217 

6.  CALCULATION  OF  THE  COMMITMENT  PERIOD  RESERVE  IN  ACCORDANCE  WITH 

DECISION 11/CMP.1 

For  the  purposes  of  the  joint  fulfilment,  the  commitment  period  reserve  applies  to  the 
EU, its Member States and Iceland individually. Table 3 provides the commitment period 
reserves calculated for the European Union, its Member States and Iceland.  

5 

 
 
Table 3 
and Iceland 

Country 

Commitment period reserves for the European Union, Member States 

Commitment period reserve 
[t CO2eq] 

European Union 

21 777 272 968 

Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 

Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg  
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 
Iceland 

365 141 085 
525 805 662 
200 651 385 
146 043 977 
42 705 115 
468 463 683 
242 427 291 
45 951 278 
216 490 139 
2 713 243 349 

3 233 429 899 
432 712 049 
391 037 652 
309 168 535 
2 169 262 279 
68 970 095 
102 240 739 
64 972 374 
8 369 792 
832 300 112 
1 425 544 942 
386 623 772 
590 453 541 
182 042 045 
89 483 204 
1 590 189 509 
283 999 120 
2 470 443 599 
13 794 495 

7. 

IDENTIFICATION  OF  THE  SELECTION  OF  SINGLE  MINIMUM  VALUES  FOR  TREE 
CROWN  COVER,  LAND  AREA  AND  TREE  HEIGHT  FOR  USE  IN  ACCOUNTING  UNDER 
ARTICLE 3(3) AND (4) 

Member  States  have  selected  threshold  values  for  the  forest  definition  for  reporting  on 
the  activities  afforestation,  reforestation  and  deforestation  under  Article  3(3)  and  forest 
management, if elected under Article 3(4) of the Kyoto Protocol for the first commitment 
period. As the EU aggregates Member States’ information, the same values are used as 
those elected by Member States for the required single minimum values for tree crown 
cover, land area and tree height in accordance with the forest definition used for reporting 
to the FAO.  

6 

 
  
 
Table  4  -  Member  States’  and  Iceland`s  selection  of  threshold  values  for  the  forest 
definition for reporting under Article 3(3) and (4) 

Member State 

Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 
Iceland 

Minimum value for 
tree crown cover 
30 % 
20 % 
10 % 
10 % 
10 % 
30 % 
10 % 
30% 
10 % 
10 % 
10 % 
25 % 
30 % 
20 % 
10 % 
20 % 
30 % 
10 % 
30 % 
20 % 
10 % 
10 % 
10 % 
20 % 
30 % 
20 % 
10 % 
20 % 
10 % 

Minimum tree height  Minimum area for 

2 m 
5 m 
5 m 
2 m 
5 m 
2 m 
5 m 
2 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
2 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
2 m 
5 m 
5 m 
5 m 
2 m 
3 m 
5 m 
2 m 
2 m 

forest land area 
0.05 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.1 ha 
0.1 ha 
0.3 ha 
0.05 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.1 ha 
0.3 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.1 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.1 ha 
0.1 ha 
0.5 ha 
1 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.1 ha 
1 ha 
0.25 ha 
0.3 ha 
0.25 ha 
1 ha 
0.5 ha 
0.1 ha 
0.5 ha 

8.  ELECTION  OF  ACTIVITIES  UNDER  ARTICLE  3(4),  FOR  INCLUSION  IN  THE 

ACCOUNTING FOR THE SECOND COMMITMENT PERIOD 

Table 5 presents an overview of the Member States’ and Iceland´s elections of activities 
under Article 3(4) as reported in their reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned 
amount for the second commitment period. 

7 

 
Table 5  
activities under Article 3(4) of the Kyoto Protocol 

Overview  of  Member  States’  and  Iceland’s  election  of  LULUCF 

Member State 

Cropland 
management 

Grazing land 
management 

Revegetation 

Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 
Iceland 

Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected  
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 

Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected  
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 

Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected  
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 

Wetland 
Drainage and 
rewetting 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected  
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Not elected 
Elected 
Not elected 

9. 

IDENTIFICATION  OF  THE  FREQUENCY  OF  ACCOUNTING  FOR  ACTIVITIES  UNDER 
ARTICLE 3(3) AND (4) 

Member  States  and  Iceland  identify  the  accounting  frequency  for  the  activities  under 
Article 3(3) and (4) in their respective reports to facilitate the calculation of the assigned 
amount. All Member States chose to account at the end of the commitment period, except 
for Denmark and Hungary, which chose to account annually. 

10.  FOREST  MANAGEMENT  REFERENCE  LEVELS  AS  INSCRIBED  IN  THE  APPENDIX  TO 

THE ANNEX TO DECISION 2/CMP.7  

Paragraph  1(i)  of  Annex  I  to  Decision  2/CMP.8  requires  reporting  of  the  forest 
management level and any technical corrections as contained in the inventory report. EU 
Member  States  and  Iceland  reported  this  information  in  their  reports  to  facilitate  the 
calculation  of  the  assigned  amount  of  and  in  their  most  recent  greenhouse  gas 
inventories. 

8 

 
 
11.  INFORMATION  ON  HOW  EMISSIONS  FROM  HARVESTED  WOOD  PRODUCTS 
ORIGINATING FROM FORESTS PRIOR TO THE START OF THE SECOND COMMITMENT 
PERIOD  HAVE  BEEN  CALCULATED  IN  THE  REFERENCE  LEVEL  IN  ACCORDANCE 
WITH DECISION 2/CMP.7 ANNEX, PARAGRAPH 16 

Information  on  how  emissions  from  harvested  wood  products  originating  from  forests 
prior to the start of the second commitment period have been calculated in the reference 
level  in  accordance  with  decision  2/CMP.7,  annex,  paragraph  16  is  provided  in  the 
reports  to  facilitate  the  calculation  of  the  assigned  amount  submitted  by  EU  Member 
States and Iceland and in their most recent inventory submissions.  

12.  ACCOUNTING FOR NATURAL DISTURBANCES 

An  overview  on  the  decisions  of  Member  States  whether  they  intend  to  use  the 
provisions to exclude emissions from natural disturbances is provided below. 

Table 6 
natural disturbances 

 Information  on  the  use  of  the  provision  to  exclude  emissions  from 

Countries 

Afforestation/Reforestation 

Forest Management 

Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 
Iceland 

No 
No 
Yes  
Yes 
No 
No 
No 
No 
No 
Yes 
No 
Yes 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 

Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
Yes 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 
Yes 

13.  DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIONAL SYSTEM 

The European Union already had a quantified emission limitation and reduction target in 
the  first  commitment  period  and  provided  a  description  of  its  national  system  in  the 
report  to  calculate  the  assigned  amount  of  the  first  commitment  period.  Subsequently, 

9 

 
 
any changes that occurred to the EU national system were reported as part of the annual 
supplementary  information  under  Article  7  of  the  Kyoto  Protocol  and  included  in  the 
national inventory report.  

The institutions which were part of the EU inventory system and responsible for the EU 
inventory preparation during the first commitment period remain the same at the start of 
the  second  commitment  period.  The  Directorate-General  for  Climate  Action  (DG 
CLIMA) of the European Commission has overall responsibility for the inventory of the 
EU  while  each  Member  State  is  responsible  for  the  preparation  of  its  own  inventory 
which  is  the  basic  input  for  the  inventory  of  the  EU.  DG  CLIMA  is  supported  in  the 
establishment  of  the  inventory  by  the  following  main  institutions:  the  European 
Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Topic Centre on Air Pollution and Climate 
Change  Mitigation  (ETC/ACM)  as  well  as  the  following  other  Directorates  General  of 
the European Commission: Eurostat and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). 

14.  DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIONAL REGISTRY  

For the purpose of meeting their obligations as Parties to the Kyoto Protocol and under 
Article  10  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  525/20134  ("Monitoring  Mechanism  Regulation"), 
each Member State and the EU operate a Kyoto Protocol national registry. In accordance 
with  Decisions  13/CMP.l  and  24/CP.8  the  Member  States  and  the  Union  operate  their 
national registries in a consolidated manner.  

4  Regulation  (EU)  No  525/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21  May  2013  on  a 
mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and for reporting other information 
at national and Union level relevant to climate change and repealing Decision No 280/2004/EC; OJ L 
165, 18.6.2013, p.13 

10