The regulation includes inter alia these four considerable changes for the period 2013-16:
- Temporarily reduced geographical area
The temporary rules imply that in the period 2013-2016, only CO2 emissions from flights between two aerodromes within the EEA (the European Economic Area) are to be reported. EEA is defined by the 28 EU member states and in addition Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
- Reduction in allocated free aviation allowances
Following the temporary changes for aircraft operators in the years 2013-16, the allocated free aviation allowances to aircraft operators administered by Denmark have been re-calculated to reflect the reduced geographical scope. Read more about free allocation here.
- Exemption from EU ETS Aviation for small, non-commercial operators
To avoid a large administrative burden for the smallest aircraft operators, a temporary exemption was added to the EU regulation. Non-commercial aircraft operators emitting less than 1 000 tonnes CO2 per year full scope are exempt for reporting on emitted CO2 in the time period 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020.
- Simplified procedures for ”small emitters” with less than 25 000 tonnes CO2 per year.
Aircraft operators with annual emissions lower than 25 000 tonnes CO2 are referred to as “small emitters”. Small emitters are allowed to skip verification in the period 2013-16, if emissions are determined using the small emitters tool and populated by Eurocontrol with data from its ETS support facility.