The implementation of guidelines was a requirement under the third phase of the ***EU’s emissions trading scheme emissions trading scheme (ETS) (download PDF to right) of 2013-2020. The implementation of monitoring and reporting guidelines to provide a methodology for quantifying emissions from each stage of the CCS chain were needed to render possible the inclusion of CCS in the ETS. The guidelines come as an amendment to Commission Decision 2007/589/EC, which sets out the monitoring and reporting requirements for all installations under the ETS.

Although the implementation of guidelines was technically not required until 2013 the Commission opted for early adoption in order to ”provide regulatory certrainty.”

The Commission thus finalised the “world’s most comprehensive legal framework for the environmentally secure use of CCS” and provided a crucial instrument to ensure the “safe implementation and consistent monitoring of CCS projects across Europe.”

Access the final document on the inclusion of monitoring and reporting guidelines for greenhouse gas emissions from the capture, transport and geological storage of carbon dioxide by downloading document to the right.