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EMISSIONS TRADING
The UN General Assembly established in 1990 an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) that was given a mandate to draft a framework convention aiming at reducing climate change. The Climate Convention was adopted in 1992 and it entered into force two years later. The so-called Kyoto Protocol specifying the Climate Convention was adopted in December 1997. The EC and all EU member states ratified the Protocol in May 2002. Binding greenhouse gas reduction commitments are specified in the Protocol for industrialised countries for the commitment period 2008 - 2012. The reduction commitments of the Kyoto Protocol apply to six greenhouse gases in all, one of which is carbon dioxide.
It has been stated in the proposal of the EC Commission for an emissions trading directive that the EU's internal emissions trading scheme is a significant part of that action programme which aims at achieving the emissions reduction targets according to the Kyoto Protocol in the most cost-effective way possible. With the commencement of the EC's internal emissions trading already at the beginning of 2005 it is aimed, among other things, at gaining experience in the application of the company-level emissions trading scheme. At present, the EU's internal emissions trading only concerns the carbon dioxide emissions. The emissions trading scheme is meant to operate so that the emissions of the lines of business belonging to its sphere keep within the limits of the pre-defined total emissions quantity.
The Emissions Trading Act is applied to carbon dioxide emissions of combustion installations with a rated thermal input of more than 20 MW and of the smaller combustion installations connected to the same district heating network, of mineral oil refineries and coke ovens, as well as of certain installations and processes of the steel, mineral and forest industries. An installation belonging to the sphere of emissions trading needs an emissions permit, pursuant to which it has the right to emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The issuance of permits lies with the Energy Market Authority. In Finland, the number of installations needing a permit is around 530.
The monitoring and reporting of emissions data are an essential part of the permit process and the control of emissions trading. For this emissions monitoring, the Commission has adopted Decision 2004/156/EC, which specifies the monitoring requirements and accuracy levels of the emissions data.
Alahakemistot:
 Emissions Trading in Finland
Emissions Trading Registry
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