4. EU Emissions Trading Scheme Application in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania from 2008 to 2012

Emission trading in three European Union (EU) member states in the Balkans during the second phase (2008–2012) of the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) is investigated in terms of allocation submission of emission credits (assigned amount units (AAU), certified emission reductions (CER), emission reduction units (ERU) and potential trading activities). Greece, Bulgaria and Romania are analyzed as three individual cases under the scope of the EU Directive 2003/87/EC with the aim to identify the adequacy of emission allowances in individual sectors and their resulting utilization. The aforementioned Balkan countries produced over 750 Mt of verified emissions in the first commitment period of 2008–2012, of which approximately 70 % correspond to combustion installations. A deficit emerged for individual installations; although at the sector level, deficits appeared only in the aviation sector for all countries. Greece also experienced a deficit in the emissions trading scheme (ETS) combustion sector prior to the use of CER or ERU under the clean development mechanism (CDM) and the joint implementation (JI) mechanism. This study mainly focuses on the combustion sector while attempting to identify differences in use of international emission credits among the three Balkan countries and sectors therein.