Brussels, 16/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg have received the European Commission's definitive green light to begin their second National Allocation Plans for greenhouse gas emissions (NAP) for 2008-12.
Following a conditional approval for the first phase of these plans, member states presented obligatory presentations of their amended NAPs that took into account amendments demanded by the European Commission. The examination of these amendments (made in a specific time frame, before the end of 2006) were approved by the Commission. A press release explained that plans were approved on the basis of the following amendments:
Ireland and Latvia gave upward revisions of the emission quota ceilings, which could be allocated annually to companies that are participating in the European carbons market (more than 1.18 million tonnes for Ireland and more than 0.14 million tonnes for Latvia).The increase to the Joint Implementation (JI) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) limits for Latvia (from 5 to 10%) and Lithuania (from 8.9 to 20%) have also been approved while the limit for Ireland has been reduced to 10%. Regarding Luxembourg, the Commission has agreed that no auctioning of allowances may take place, and that certain installations are partly or entirely withdrawn from the NAP, correspondingly reducing the total quantity of allowances by 0.2 million tonnes. No amendments were approved for Sweden's National Allocation Plan. Germany and the Slovak Republic also submitted amendments between the end of the assessment period and before end 2006. The assessment of these amendments is ongoing. Information on 22 national plans so far examined are accessible at: http: //ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission.htm (an)