UN Carbon Credit Registry Connection Issues To Be Resolved

The European Commission announced on 6 August that the EU Community independent Transaction Log (CITL) and the registries of the EU Member States will be connected to the UN International Transaction Log (ITL) before December 2008 at the latest. This announcement, which means that EU Member States should be in a position to issue EU Allowances (EUAs) for the first year of Phase 2 (2008-2012) of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme before the end of the year, is one that will impact on the risk positions of operators subject to the EU ETS as well as stakeholders involved in the trading of both EUAs and UN-based emission credits.

The linking of the registers is crucial, as it will enable operators to transfer CERs (as well as other types of UN-based credits) into the accounts they have to maintain at the national registries of their Member State. The link would also expand the EU's emissions trading market and