Ukraine: aircraft operators to join EU Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012

All Ukrainian aircraft operators flying to and from EU airports will be subject to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme from 1 January 2012. This, however, does not concern operators with less than 243 flights every four months or with annual emissions lower than 10,000 tonnes of CO₂e as well as various non-commercial aircraft operators.

The operators’ names appear on a preliminary list published by the European Commission on 11 February 2009.

Each operator is allocated to a Member State from which it will be subject to enforcement action (including fines and a ban from operating in the EU as a last resort) if it fails to:

• monitor, report and verify its CO2 emissions;
• obtain and surrender at the end of each year emissions allowances equal to its actual verified emissions in that year (each EU allowance allows them to emit the equivalent of 1 tonne of CO2).

The operators will be able to obtain about 85% of the allowances for free and will have to buy the rest. They can use a certain percentage of carbon credits generated from Kyoto Protocol projects, such as those from Joint Implementation (JI) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.

The total number of allowances to be issued for aviation will represent the anticipated 3% cut of emissions in 2012, and 5% cut since 2013 comparing to the 2004-2006 average.

The list is open for comments from Member States and concerned stakeholders until 31 March 2009, following which a revised list will be published. It will then be updated and republished on 1 February each year.

Law: Directive 2003/87/EC on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, as amended in 2008 by Directive 2008/101/EC