UK Emissions Trading Scheme

A UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) is the carbon emission trading scheme of the UK. It is based on a cap and trade principle and replaced the UK’s participation in the EU ETS on 1 January 2021. Under the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol, electricity generators in Northern Ireland remained within the EU ETS.

Background

The UK ETS applies to regulated activities which result in greenhouse gas emissions, including combustion of fuels on a site where combustion units with a total rated thermal input exceeding 20MW are operated (except in installations where the primary purpose is the incineration of hazardous waste or municipal waste). There are simplified provisions for hospitals, small emitters and ultra-small emitters^[1].

A consultation ran between March 2022 and June 2022, with a call of evidence on expanding the UK ETS to include incineration with energy recovery and incineration without energy recovery by the mid to late 2020s^[2]^[3].

References

[1] ttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/participating-in-the-uk-ets/participating-in-the-uk-ets

[2] ttps://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/developing-the-uk-emissions-trading-scheme-uk-ets

[3] ttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1067125/developing-the-uk-ets-english.pdf

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