REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION The European Union’s Report on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (required under Article 22 of 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 the national and Union level relevant to climate change and repealing Decision No 280/2004/EC and Decision 13/CMP.1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol)
Date: 2023-10-31
Institutions: Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU emission allowance, Kyoto Protocol, adaptation to climate change, emission trading, environmental monitoring, greenhouse gas, pollution control, reduction of gas emissions, tradeable emission permit

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 31.10.2023  COM(2023) 686 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION The European Union’s Report on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (required under Article 22 of 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 the national and Union level relevant to climate change and repealing Decision No 280/2004/EC and Decision 13/CMP.1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol) {SWD(2023) 348 final}  
 
 
Report on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under the Kyoto Protocol  

This Report and the accompanying Staff Working Document constitute the European Union Report 
on  the  additional  period  for  fulfilling  commitments  under  Article  3,  paragraph  1,  of  the  Kyoto 
Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (‘the Kyoto Protocol’), 
for the second commitment period (2013-2020) of the Kyoto Protocol (hereinafter referred to as the 
true-up period), as required under Article 22 of Regulation (EU) No 525/20131, in accordance with 
the relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the 
Kyoto Protocol2.  

They will be transmitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate 
Change (UNFCCC) by 24 October 2023. 

The information contained in the Report will facilitate the assessment of compliance of the European 
Union  (EU)  with  its  commitments  under  Article  3(1)  of  the  Kyoto  Protocol  for  the  second 
commitment period. This assessment will be based on the comparison of the quantity of units valid 
for  the  second  commitment  period  retired  by  the  end  of  the  true-up  period  with  the  aggregate 
emissions for the second commitment period. The additional period for fulfilling commitments ended 
on 9 September 2023. 

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  thereof3.  The  EU,  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.  

Council Decision (EU) 2015/13394 sets out the terms of the joint fulfilment agreement as well as the 
respective emission levels of each Party to that agreement. 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’5. 

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 

1 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. 13–40. 

2 Decisions 5/CMP.1, 13/CMP.1, 15/CMP.1, 22/CMP.1, 27/CMP.1, 1/CMP.8, 1/CMP.17, 3/CMP.11 and 4/CMP.11. 

3 FCCC/KP/CMP/2012/13/Add.1 

4 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. 

5 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. 

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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.  

In accordance with Article 4(4) of the Kyoto Protocol, the United Kingdom withdrawal from the EU 
on 1 February 2020 does not affect the commitments under the second commitment period. 

The joint assigned amount resulting from this calculation is 37 604 433 280 tonnes of CO2-eq6. The 
assigned amount of the EU is determined in line with the terms of the joint fulfilment agreement and 
equals 15 813 089 338 tonnes of CO2-eq7. The agregated assigned amounts of the Member States 
and Iceland is 21 791 343 942 tonnes of CO2-eq. 

Retirement of Kyoto Units 

The Kyoto Protocol was ratified by the EU, at that time the European Community, and its Member 
States on 31 May 2002. At the Doha Climate Change Conference in December 2012, parties to the 
Kyoto  Protocol  adopted  the  Doha  Amendment,  establishing  a  second  commitment  period  of  the 
Kyoto  Protocol,  starting  on  1  January  2013  and  ending  on  31  December  2020  (‘the  Doha 
Amendment’). The Union, its Member States and Iceland notified the terms of the agreement to fulfil 
jointly  the  commitments  of  the  EU,  its  Member  States  and  Iceland  under  Article  3  of  the  Kyoto 
Protocol in the second commitment period in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 thereof.8  At 
the time of agreement the following 28 countries were Member States: the Kingdom of Belgium, the 
Republic  of  Bulgaria,  the  Czech  Republic,  the  Kingdom  of  Denmark,  the  Federal  Republic  of 
Germany, the Republic of Estonia, Ireland, the Hellenic Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the French 
Republic,  the  Republic  of  Croatia,  the  Italian  Republic,  the  Republic  of  Cyprus,  the  Republic  of 
Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Hungary, the Republic of Malta, 
the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Poland, the Portuguese 
Republic,  Romania,  the  Republic  of  Slovenia,  the  Slovak  Republic,  the  Republic  of  Finland,  the 
Kingdom of Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  

The total cumulative number of tonnes of CO2eq to be retired under the joint fulfilment is calculated 
as the sum of the quantity of tonnes of CO2eq in the retirement accounts in the registries of the EU, 
the 27 Member States, the United Kingdom and Iceland, and it amounts to 33,731,035,055 tonnes of 
CO2-eq. 

Carry-over of Kyoto Units 

As there is no third commitment period foreseen under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU will not request 
to carry-over units. 

The total quantity of units in the Member States holding accounts requested to be carried over by the 
Member States will be reported in the Member States' reports on the additional period for fulfilling 
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. 

6 FCCC/IRR/2016/EU  
7 FCCC/IRR/2016/EU 
8 FCCC/KP/CMP/2012/13/Add.1 

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