Memorandum from the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs
At the hearing on 19 July, I promised to write
with further information on the soundness of other EU Members
States' collection and monitoring of EU ETS data.
Please see below that information. I also wish
to expand further the responses I gave to Question 259 about our
2020 and 2050 climate change targets and to Question 269 about
the level of obligation under the Renewables Transport Fuel Obligation,
post 2010.
1. Question 308—Soundness of other
EU Member States' collection and monitoring of the EU emissions
trading scheme (EU ETS) data
The carbon dioxide emissions data collected
from the first year of the EU ETS are more accurate than any data
previously collected for the sectors covered. Monitoring by all
operators must be carried out in accordance with the Commission's
Monitoring and Reporting Guidelines. Operators reports must be
verified by independent, accredited verifiers.
In the UK, verification bodies are accredited
by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) in accordance with international
standards. Bodies must pass a rigorous assessment to become accredited
and are then subject to ongoing surveillance by UKAS. Similar
requirements exist in other EU Member States who are all members
of the European Co-operation for Accreditation.
As such, data from 2005 are more rigorous than
the historic baselines against which they might be compared. However,
some concerns have been expressed that monitoring, reporting and
verification in some other Member States may not be as robust
as in the UK. These concerns are predominantly circumstantial.
For example, the speed with which the verifiers were accredited
in some Member States raised some concern over the rigor of the
accreditation process, and therefore potentially the quality of
their verification reports.
It is up to each Member State to ensure that
reported emissions data are robust and collected in accordance
with requirements. The Monitoring and Reporting Guidelines are
on the whole rigorous with little room for flexible interpretation.
We are confident that so long as these are enforced with proper
verification, data from all Member States will be robust.
Member States are required to comment on monitoring
and reporting in the Article 21 Questionnaire that must be sent
to the Commission each year. Within the Questionnaire, Member
States must say which reporting tier larger installations are
working to. This should provide an insight into the rigor of monitoring
across Europe, and an opportunity for the Commission to enforce
its Guidelines where appropriate and to enforce them evenly across
all Member States.
There were also problems with some Member States'
registries which meant that operators could not submit verified
emissions results or surrender the correct number of allowances.
This led to an incomplete picture of results for 2005 and a lack
of clarity for the carbon market. These appear to have been resolved
and should not occur again in the future.
Enforcement action by States against operators
that do not comply with requirements is also important for ensuring
consistent and good quality reporting by other Member States.
We understand that the Commission is intending to obtain information
about enforcement actions taken, and will follow-up cases where
enforcement or penalties have not been applied properly by Member
States.
2. Question 259—Reductions estimated
in the 2003 Energy White Paper and the 2020 reductions
In the 2003 Energy White Paper, projections
showed UK carbon emissions reaching 135 million tonnes of carbon
(MtC) in 2020. We said that in order to demonstrate our leadership
in tackling climate change and make real progress towards our
2050 carbon reduction goal we would need to make a reduction in
emissions by 15-25 MtC to 110-120 MtC by 2020.
However, since 2003, emissions have risen on
the back of strong economic growth and higher fossil fuel prices
that have been favourable to coal-fired power generation. New
projections for the Energy Review suggest that UK carbon emissions
will reach 146 MtC by 2020 on the basis of current policies. So
we would now need to make bigger cuts in emissions of 25025 MtC
in order to reduce emissions to 110-120 MtC by 2020.
The measures in the Energy Review will deliver
19.5-25.3 MtC in 2020, bringing the carbon dioxide levels down
to 126.5-120.7 MtC. So the Energy Review measures make an important
contribution to putting us back on track to meeting our 2050 goal,
but we will need to make maximum effort.
3. Question 269—Renewable Transport
Fuel Obligation (RTFO)
The Energy Review suggested that doubling of
the commitment to 10% by 2015 could save up to a further million
tonnes of carbon a year. But this is in fact only one of a number
of options that we are considering. The Government remains committed
to introducing the RTFO in April 2008, with the obligation level
rising to 5% in 2010-11. In the recent Energy Review we committed
to increasing this beyond 2010-11, provided that certain key conditions
are met (costs being acceptable to the consumer, the development
of a robust sustainability and carbon standards and development
of new fuel quality standards at EU level). No decisions have
yet been made on the appropriate level of the RTFO beyond 2010-11.
I hope that the above information is helpful.
Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to appear in front of
the Committee and I look forward to hearing your proposals about
how we can engage more in the future.
David Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs
26 July 2006
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