Deadline for EU Emissions Verification Rapidly Approaching

Businesses in the UK’s National Allocation Plan (NAP) for EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) should ensure they are in contact with a verifier in readiness for the end of August deadline

The EU ETS is the world’s first mandatory Green House Gases (GHG) emission cap and trade system. Installations within the NAP are required to have completed baseline verification of their emissions by 31st August 2004. Of the 1,000 installations, very few as yet have completed verification. BSI is urging any installation, not in contact with a verifier, to contact them now for verification.

The length of the verification process is dependent on the size of the installation, and ranges from about two days for smaller installations to five days for larger ones. Companies which fail to verify their emissions may not be allocated any allowance in the first phase of the scheme and face the penalty of having to purchase required allowances from the trading market.

Nick Marshall from BSI Management Systems says: "This is the first time a supranational body (the EU) has set a mandatory emissions limit on GHGs. It is crucial that the verification of emissions is accurate and undertaken by a reputable, accredited organisation. BSI works with organisations to not only produce accurate data representation, but to also identify ways to continually improve emissions performance. Given the limited timeframe, we strongly urge any installations not already in contact with a verifier to contact BSI now."

The EU ETS directly contributes to the EU’s ‘burden sharing’ commitment under the Kyoto Protocol, aiming to reduce the levels of GHG’s from 1990 by 8 per cent. Each EU Member State must produce a National Allocation Plan (NAP) to distribute emissions allowances for each of the industry sectors covered. This allocation forms the cap on GHG emissions for every installation. The comparison between this allowance and their actual verified annual emissions position will determine their ability or need to trade.

As data accuracy is crucial, the UK government requires all submitted baseline data to be verified by an independent third party such as BSI. BSI has established a top reputation in the UK ETS and has many high profile clients.

Baseline verifications cover data from the 1998 – 2002 period, with the EU trading scheme commencing on 1st January 2005. Each installation must have its emissions verified annually.

_ENDS_

For more information please contact:

Wilma Tulloch on +44 (0)20 8996 6330 OR
Marc Edney on +44 (0)20 8996 6330