The United Kingdom has responded to the safeguard measures adopted by the EU to protect the environmental integrity of the EU emissions quota exchange system (ETS) until 2020, in the event that the United Kingdom no longer wishes to take part in ETS once it has left the EU, on 30 March 2019. This was announced by the European Commission on Tuesday 9 January.
According to the Commission, the British authorities informed the EU Climate Change Committee of the adoption of a national law on 27 December whereby the compliance deadline for 2018 emissions was advanced to 15 March 2019, i.e. before the date when the United Kingdom pulls out of the EU and in accordance with the amendment to the EU ETS Registry Regulation (see EUROPE 11895).
Adoption of the British law follows the go-ahead given by the EU Climate Change Committee to the European Commission regulation amending the emissions register in order to restrict the use of credits allocated by the United Kingdom to its air operators as of 1 January 2018. Such credits can no longer be auctioned or refunded. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)