On 2 May 2024, the Commission published Germany’s notification under Article 12(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC (‘ETS Directive’), concerning its intention to voluntarily cancel allowances associated with the closure of electricity generation capacities in two ETS installations in its territory in 2022 due to additional national measures.
Following the procedure for the cancellation of allowances laid down in Article 25 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2830 (‘Auctioning Regulation’), Germany notified to the Commission in April 2025 the exact number of allowances to be cancelled, in relation to the year 2023, during the period between 1 September and 31 December of 2025.
Based on the methodology for calculating the volumes to be cancelled, Germany intends to cancel 514,000 allowances, depending on the surplus indicator of the Market Stability Reserve under the EU ETS, the total number of allowances in circulation (TNAC), in 2024.
The Commission is due to adopt the annual Communication on the TNAC for 2024 on 28 May 2025, before the 1 June deadline. If the TNAC 2024 is above 1,096 million, 514,000 allowances would be cancelled. If the TNAC 2024 is between 833 million and 1,096 million, no allowances would be cancelled, because in that case the Market Stability Reserve would already remove the surplus resulting from the plant closures.
