Allocation of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Responsibilities Among and Within the Countries of the European Union

Under the Kyoto Protocol the European Union (EU) has agreed to limit its average annual greenhouse gas emissions to eight percent below 1990 levels during the period 2008 to 2012. Each Member State of the European Community (EC) has also individually agreed to limit emissions to this level. Under the “bubble” provisions of Article 4 of the Protocol, however, the Member States have agreed to jointly fulfil their Protocol emissions limitation commitments. In June 1998 the EU decided on a burden sharing agreement (BSA) that allocates the EU target among the Member States (see . Trading can occur among the States either under EU rules, if the EU established a trading system, because of the European bubble, through Annex 1 trading under Article 17 of the Protocol, or via Article 6 Joint Implementation

This paper deals with the issues relating to the allocation of emission allowances (or equivalently Parts of Assigned Amount, PAAs) among and within States.