These regulations amend retained EU law related to the UK’s Kyoto Protocol (KP) registry, and to KP projects, to ensure that it will be operable in the UK following the end of the transition period. The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is a multi-faceted international climate change treaty. The KP set out emission reduction obligations that applied for the period up to 31st December 2020 for certain countries, including the EU Member States and the UK.
The retained EU law amended by these Regulations is known as the Registries Regulation, or more officially as the EU Registries Regulation (No 389/2013). They set out requirements for the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS) registry and the KP registries of EU Member States. These registries are housed on an EU-wide software platform called the Consolidated System of European Union Registries (CSEUR). CSEUR provides for the accounting of all allowances issued under the EU ETS and units held within each Member State’s KP registry. These EU ETS allowances and KP units each represent a fixed amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
These EU ETS allowances can be owned, traded and surrendered by those holding electronic accounts. KP units are generated from emission reduction or removal enhancement projects in developing countries. Essentially, CSEUR keeps track of the ownership of allowances and units held in electronic accounts, just as a bank has a record of all its customers and their money.
Therefore, the Registries Regulation requires EU Member States to have a KP registry to demonstrate their compliance with emission reduction obligations under the KP. The Regulation also details how KP units and EU ETS allowances can be stored, traded, and accounted for, as well as how the EU ETS Registry and Member State KP registries are to be administered.
Furthermore, the UK is a party to the UNFCCC. This treaty unites nearly all the countries in the world in agreeing that climate change is an important issue and seeking to combat it by stabilising emissions of greenhouse gases. One of the primary protocols provided under the UNFCCC is the Kyoto Protocol. Certain countries agreed to emission reduction commitments under the KP, including the UK and EU Member States. As a result, the UK still has accounting obligations in relation to this commitment period, in order to demonstrate its compliance. The UK ratified the KP in its own right, and leaving the EU has not affected the UK’s obligations with regard to the UNFCCC and the KP.
