On Thursday 30 July, the European Energy Exchange (EEX), which manages the auctions for the Emissions Trading System for CO2 (EU ETS or ‘ETS’), published its revised auction calendar for 2026 and 2027 and the corresponding allowance volumes.
The Market Stability Reserve, the operation of which could be modified by the recent revision of the ‘ETS’ Directive (see EUROPE 13912/2) and a proposed amendment dated April 2026 (see EUROPE 13841/1), will contain 190,494,202 emission allowances for the period from September 2026 to August 2027. This results in reduced auction volumes, reflected in the figures published today.
Number of emission allowances in circulation in 2026. From September to December 2026, 2,791,500 allowances will be placed on the EU common auction platform at each sale (three per week), a lower level than in the previous auction period (2,845,500 allowances).
For Germany, the number of allowances per weekly session will rise from 1,544,500 to 1,548,000 between September and December 2026, while for Poland it will increase from 1,944,000 to 1,945,000 per bi-weekly session over the same period. These two Member States have their own dedicated auction platform, hosted by the same operator.
For Northern Ireland, an auction session will be held on 13 October 2027 with a preliminary volume of 896,500 allowances. The volume of the previous auction was 584,000 allowances. Since January 2021, the ‘ETS’ Directive has applied in Northern Ireland, but only to electricity generation.
Projections for 2027. EEX has also published the preliminary auction volumes for 2027. Auctions will begin between 7 and 13 January, depending on the platform.
The total number of allowances to be auctioned in 2027 could amount to 339,476 500 at European level, 77,631,500 for the German market and 49,770,500 for the Polish market.
The auction calendar for emission allowances for the buildings and road transport sectors (‘ETS2’) will be published by the end of September. The auctions will begin in January 2027, for the system to enter into force in 2028. (Original version in French by Nadège Delépine)