The government has published a summary of responses to chapter 4 of its consultation on ‘the future of carbon pricing’ and has laid the first of two sets of regulations to transpose into domestic legislation the necessary amendments for the UK to participate in the next phase of the EU ETS from 2021. The UK is legally obliged to transpose the revisions to the directive while it remains a member of the EU and a participant in the EU ETS.
The consultation ran between 2 May 2019 and 12 July 2019 and considered options for a regime to enable the government to continue to meet its carbon reduction targets after the UK leaves the EU. Chapters 1 to 3 covered domestic alternatives to the EU ETS, while chapter 4 covered technical provisions for continued UK membership of the scheme for phase IV. The proposals also included implementation of the discretionary UK schemes for small emitters, which are the:
simplified small emitter scheme (article 27 scheme) for those producing less than 25,000 tCO2 per annum; and
simplified ultra-small emitter scheme (article 27a scheme) for those producing less than 2,500 tCO2 per annum.
A majority of respondents were in favour of the proposals and the government has confirmed it will implement them into domestic legislation through two statutory instruments, with the exception of regulatory responsibility for carbon capture and storage across all devolved administrations. See bit.ly/2WwJauO.
The response to chapter 4 of the consultation has been published separately because the EU emissions trading system directive required a transposition deadline of 9 October 2019. On 31 October, the government laid the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (No 3) Regulations, SI 2019/1440, containing provisions meeting the mandatory transposition requirements and providing for other changes including the discretionary UK small emitter schemes. These regulations come into effect on 21 November 2019. The second set of regulations, to implement EU tertiary legislation, will be published in 2020.
The government will publish a separate response to chapters 1–3 of the consultation, which covered the following domestic alternatives to the EU ETS:
a UK ETS linked in scope to the EU ETS;
a standalone UK ETS; or
a carbon emissions tax.
In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the UK intends to implement the carbon emissions tax as its interim carbon pricing option. In such a case, the transposition provisions in chapter 4 would not be needed and the above regulations would be revoked with effect from exit day.
The government has published a summary of responses to chapter 4 of its consultation on ‘the future of carbon pricing’ and has laid the first of two sets of regulations to transpose into domestic legislation the necessary amendments for the UK to participate in the next phase of the EU ETS from 2021. The UK is legally obliged to transpose the revisions to the directive while it remains a member of the EU and a participant in the EU ETS.
The consultation ran between 2 May 2019 and 12 July 2019 and considered options for a regime to enable the government to continue to meet its carbon reduction targets after the UK leaves the EU. Chapters 1 to 3 covered domestic alternatives to the EU ETS, while chapter 4 covered technical provisions for continued UK membership of the scheme for phase IV. The proposals also included implementation of the discretionary UK schemes for small emitters, which are the:
simplified small emitter scheme (article 27 scheme) for those producing less than 25,000 tCO2 per annum; and
simplified ultra-small emitter scheme (article 27a scheme) for those producing less than 2,500 tCO2 per annum.
A majority of respondents were in favour of the proposals and the government has confirmed it will implement them into domestic legislation through two statutory instruments, with the exception of regulatory responsibility for carbon capture and storage across all devolved administrations. See bit.ly/2WwJauO.
The response to chapter 4 of the consultation has been published separately because the EU emissions trading system directive required a transposition deadline of 9 October 2019. On 31 October, the government laid the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (No 3) Regulations, SI 2019/1440, containing provisions meeting the mandatory transposition requirements and providing for other changes including the discretionary UK small emitter schemes. These regulations come into effect on 21 November 2019. The second set of regulations, to implement EU tertiary legislation, will be published in 2020.
The government will publish a separate response to chapters 1–3 of the consultation, which covered the following domestic alternatives to the EU ETS:
a UK ETS linked in scope to the EU ETS;
a standalone UK ETS; or
a carbon emissions tax.
In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the UK intends to implement the carbon emissions tax as its interim carbon pricing option. In such a case, the transposition provisions in chapter 4 would not be needed and the above regulations would be revoked with effect from exit day.
