On 28 May 2025 at 18:00 CET, the European Commission will publish the total number of allowances in circulation (TNAC) on the EU carbon market in 2024.
The annual publication of the TNAC plays an important role in the functioning of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). It determines whether allowances are withdrawn from the auction volume and placed in the MSR or released from the MSR and auctioned.
The MSR was established in the Decision 2015/1814. The purpose of the MSR is to avoid having a structural surplus of allowances on the EU carbon market, with the associated risk that this would prevent the EU ETS from giving the investment signal needed to meet the EU’s emission reduction target.
