Installations
Participants
In Austria, about 200 energy-intensive industrial installations are obliged to participate in emissions trading. The sectors concerned include power supply (power plants, district heating plants, refineries), the iron and steel industry, cement and other mineral industries, the paper industry and other installations in sectors such as the chemical industry and particle board manufacturing. Every year, on or before 30 June, the operators of these installations receive allowances from the competent authority (Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology) authorising them to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent per allowance.
The number of allowances allocated to the companies is stipulated in the National Allocation Plan. Allowances are held in accounts in the Emissions Trading Registry. Emissions from installations are calculated after the end of the calendar year, verified by an independent verifier and entered into the registry by 31 March each year for the previous year. For verified emissions, allowances must be surrendered by the following 30 September. If the verified emissions exceed the number of allocated allowances, the company may buy further allowances via emissions trading.
Allowances may be traded within the European Union and with countries that have either joined the emissions trading system (e.g. Norway) or which have been linked to the ETS (e.g. Switzerland). Trading takes place OTC (over the counter) or at an exchange. To be able to open an operator holding account in the registry, the company must have a permit for the installation according to the Emissions Allowances Act (Emissionszertifikategesetz 2011, EZG 2011) and nominate a verifier.
Issued allowances
National Implementation Measures (NIM Phase 4, 2021 to 2030)
Companies participating in emission trading are allocated a certain amount of allowances free of charge.
For the 2021-2030 trading period, Member States have carried out a preliminary calculation of the number of free allowances to be allocated to each of the installations for which they are responsible. These national allocation lists - or National Implementation Measures (NIM) - have been submitted to the European Commission.
If the free allocation specified in the NIMs exceeds the maximum amount of allowances provided for in the Emission Trading Directive, a correction factor set by the European Commission has to be applied to reduce the number of allowances allocated free of charge.
As a next step, the correction factor is applied to the number of allowances indicated in the National Implementation Measures and the European Commission is notified of the final allocation. After a final check by the European Commission, the National Allocation Tables (NAT) are compiled and the national administrators and the Central Administrator take all the technical steps necessary for transferring the free allowances to the Union Registry.
Upon receipt of the allocation notifications issued by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the Emissions Trading Registry transfers the emission allowances for the respective year to the operator holding accounts in the Emissions Trading Registry.
Changes to the NAT will be made through notification (to be submitted by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology) to the European Commission which will then adopt a Commission Decision.
Further information is available on the following websites:
Allowances allocated
You´ll find information about the annual allocations for each stationary installation in Phase 4 (2021-2030), or any of the previous phases, under the following link in the European Union Transaction Log (EUTL):
Website of the European Transaction Log
- Open the EUTL
- On the left hand side, select “ETS” and then “Allocations To Stationary Installations”
- Then select “Austria” as “National Administrator” and “Phase 4 (2021-2030)”, or any other period, from the dropdown menu on the right hand side and click on search
- In the line “Austria – Phase 4 (2021-2030)”, or the period you chose in step 3, click on “Installations linked to this allocation table”.
Under the following link you´ll find a table containing Installation Name, Installation Operator, Permit Number and Union Registry Installation ID:
History of free allocations 2005 to 2022
The National Allocation Plan for the pilot phase under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (2005 to 2007) was prepared in 2004, and approved by the European Commission. The total amount, allocated to about 200 companies in Austria, was approximately 33 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
The National Allocation Plan for 2008 to 2012 was submitted to the European Commission in 2007. The Commission fixed the total amount to be allocated in Austria at 30.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The maximum amount up to which Kyoto units from international emissions reductions projects could be used by operators was limited to 10 percent of the total allocation per installation.
The total amount of free allocations for the years 2013-2020 was ca. 6.6 billion allowances EU-wide. Of these, 165 million allowances were allocated to Austria. In 2013, Austrian installations received around 22.8 million free allowances; in 2020, they received around 18.5 million. Regulation (EU) 2013/1123 set a maximum amount up to which credits from international emission reduction projects could be used to offset emissions from installations. After the end of the trading period 2013-2020, the use of credits from international emission reduction projects is no longer possible.