The National Allocation Plan (NAP) stipulates the rules for the allocation of allowances to the installations participating in emissions trading. The allowances are allocated on the basis of the actual CO₂ emissions of the individual installations. To determine the quantity of emissions, data were gathered on a voluntary basis through a comprehensive data enquiry by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment. This article reports on the results of the data enquiry.

As actual emissions' data for Germany did not yet exist, the data enquiry, as regards content and organisation, for about 2,500 installations from divergent sectors such as energy, ceramics and steel was challenging. The total emissions, which were gathered in a bottom up approach, amount to an annual average of 501 million tons of CO₂ in the 2000-2002 base period. This quantity of emissions represents the emissions budget for the installations participating in emissions trading in the 2005-2007 period.

On the basis of the CO₂ emissions data, the quantity of allowances was determined according to NAP rules and was laid down, as is required by European law, in the catalogue of installations as part of the NAP. These preliminary quantities of allowances, however, are not yet the basis for a legally binding allocation of emissions certificates. The final and legally binding allocation decisions will be made only on the basis of the application procedure, which is required by law and will be implemented in the second half of 2004.

This article is a result of the project National Allocation Plan for the European Emissions Trading System that Ecologic is conducting for the German Federal Environmental Agency.