Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2441 of 31 October 2023 laying down rules for the application of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the content and format of climate-neutrality plans needed for granting free allocation of emission allowances

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (1), and in particular Article 10a(1), fifth subparagraph and Article 10b(4), fifth subparagraph, thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Directive 2003/87/EC requires certain operators to establish climate-neutrality plans. Climate-neutrality plans are to be drafted in order to receive the conditional free allocation by operators of installations whose greenhouse gas emission levels are higher than the 80th percentile of emission levels for the relevant product benchmarks. Climate-neutrality plans are also to be drafted by operators of district heating applying for optional additional free allocation for district heating installations in certain Member States.

(2) In accordance with Article 10a(1), fifth subparagraph, of Directive 2003/87/EC, climate-neutrality plans are to be drafted at installation level and are to contain the elements specified in Article 10b(4) of that Directive. Optionally, it should be possible to provide further details and specific measures at sub-installation level, to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in view of contributing to climate neutrality. For district heating installations in the Member States referred to in Article 10b(4), second subparagraph, of Directive 2003/87/EC, the climate-neutrality plans are to be drafted at company-level or at installation-level in accordance with Article 10b(4), third subparagraph, of that Directive.

(3) Pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC, the Commission is to adopt implementing acts to specify the minimal content and format of the climate-neutrality plans while seeking synergies with similar plans as provided for in Union law. In view of generating synergies and reducing the administrative burden for economic operators, elements included in plans under other Union legal acts, in particular those referred to in Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), should be considered when drafting the climate-neutrality plans.

(4) In the context of the climate-neutrality plans, climate neutrality is to be understood as defined by Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).

(5) To ensure the coherence of Union legislation, the milestones and targets should be defined in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2021/241 (4) and (EU) 2023/955 (5) of the European Parliament and the Council. To address all relevant aspects of operators’ actions towards climate neutrality and to ensure transparency and comparability, a distinction needs to be made in the climate-neutrality plans between the monitoring of progress towards qualitative achievements (‘milestones’) and the monitoring of progress towards quantitative emissions reduction achievements (‘targets’). To ensure consistency with the existing emissions trading system, milestones and targets should be expressed and reported in accordance with the rules set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 (6) and in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331 (7).

(6) In order to be consistent with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331, defining targets specific to the activity levels for product benchmark sub-installations or for fall-back sub-installations should be expressed as tonnes CO2 equivalents per relevant unit of production. Targets relative to the benchmark values in line with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/447 (8) should be expressed as percentage reduction. In addition, to allow for more flexibility and to increase the verifiability of the achievement of the targets, it should be possible to also express the targets in absolute terms.

(7) In order to reduce the administrative burden for operators when collecting data for the climate-neutrality plans, the plans should be integrated into existing procedures for free allocation established by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331. Therefore, the reference period for historical emissions should be consistent with the relevant baseline period as defined in Article 2(14) of that Regulation and the scope of emissions should be consistent with the system boundaries of the relevant sub-installations pursuant to that Regulation. The scope of emissions to be reported should be consistent with the scope of emissions in the greenhouse gas emissions permit of the installation concerned and the requirements for the monitoring and reporting of emissions laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066.

(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Climate Change Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down the content and format of climate-neutrality plans as referred to in Article 10a(1), fifth subparagraph, and in Article 10b(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘district heating company’ means a company that operates installations the main economic activities of which are classified according to the NACE codes referred to in Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) as either steam and air conditioning supply, or production of electricity combined with the export of district heating.

(2) ‘milestones’ means qualitative indicators of progress towards the achievement of a measure or investment to reach climate neutrality objective by 2050 as described in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 at installation level or optionally at company level for operators of district heating, pursuant to Article 10a(1), fifth subparagraph and Article 10b(4), third subparagraph of Directive 2003/87/EC, excluding the use of carbon offset credits;

(3) ‘targets’ means quantitative indicators of progress towards the achievement of a measure or investment to reach climate neutrality by 2050 as described in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 at installation level or optionally at company level for operators of district heating, pursuant to Article 10a(1), fifth subparagraph and Article 10b(4), third subparagraph of Directive 2003/87/EC, excluding the use of carbon offset credits;

(4) ‘intermediate targets and milestones’ means targets and milestones set for 31 December 2025 and for 31 December of each fifth year thereafter.

Article 3

Content of climate-neutrality plans

Article 4

Electronic format of the climate-neutrality plan

Article 5

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 31 October 2023.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32.

(2) Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (OJ L 334, 17.12.2010, p. 17).

(3) Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) No 2018/1999 (‘European Climate Law’) (OJ L 243, 9.7.2021, p. 1).

(4) Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17).

(5) Regulation (EU) 2023/955 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 establishing a Social Climate Fund and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 (OJ L 130, 16.5.2023, p. 1).

(6) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 of 19 December 2018 on the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Commission Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 (OJ L 334, 31.12.2018, p. 1).

(7) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331 of 19 December 2018 determining transitional Union-wide rules for harmonised free allocation of emission allowances pursuant to Article 10a of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 59, 27.2.2019, p. 8).

(8) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/447 of 12 March 2021 determining revised benchmark values for free allocation of emission allowances for the period from 2021 to 2025 pursuant to Article 10a(2) of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 87, 15.3.2021, p. 32).

(9) Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1).