The Danish EU ETS Registry
The European Union’s ETS Registry is established pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC. The registry ensures the meticulous accounting of emission allowances issued within the EU, but can also contain carbon credits. The registry keeps track of the ownership of these allowances and credits, which can only be held in electronic accounts in the registry. Each EU member state manages its own separate section of the EU ETS Registry. In Denmark, the Danish Business Authority manages all Danish accounts in the EU ETS Registry.
The main purpose of the EU ETS Registry is to keep an account of the companies and aircraft operators covered by the EU ETS Directive. The directive was transposed into Danish law by the Danish Emission Allowances Act (Lov om CO2-kvoter), which is administered by the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish Business Authority. Further details about this are available on the Danish Energy Agencys emissions trading system.
The EU ETS Registry is technically operated by the European Commission, which places the registry at the disposal of the member states. Further details about the EU ETS Registry are available on the European Commission’s website.
Accounts in the Danish EU ETS registry
Accounts in the Danish EU ETS Registry may trade with CO2 emission allowances and cannot receive carbon credits (CER´s). However, if EU ETS accounts did receive CER´s before January 1st 2021, those credits can remain on EU ETS accounts until July 2023 but can only be traded or transferred to person holding accounts in the Kyoto registry, or deleted.
Operator holding accounts and aircraft operator holding accounts
All Danish companies and aircraft operators covered by the Danish Emission Allowances Act must have an operator holding account or an aircraft operator holding account in Denmark’s section of the EU ETS Registry. This account is to be used for registering the specific company’s or aircraft operator’s emission of greenhouse gases, and once a year, the companies and aircraft operators must surrender to the Danish State the number of emission allowances that correspond to their emission of greenhouse gases in the preceding year.
The Danish Energy Agency will automatically inform the Danish Business Authority of which companies and aircraft operators are covered by the Danish Emission Allowances Act. After this, the Danish Business Authority will directly contact the companies and aircraft operators concerning the establishment of an account.
Trading accounts
Emission allowances can be traded freely. For this reason, the ETS Directive also makes it possible for other individuals or companies wishing to buy or sell emission allowances and to create a trading account in the EU ETS Registry. Further details about fees, documentation requirements, etc., are available under Establishing and updating accounts.
Verifier access
In addition to the above, the Danish EU ETS Registry also has access for verifiers, which can be used solely to verify greenhouse gas emissions related to operator holding accounts and aircraft operator holding accounts.
