Cancelling emission allowances voluntarily
Cancelling allowances removes them permanently from the Emissions Trading System. As a result, the total emissions capacity within the EU ETS decreases. You can cancel emission allowances by transferring them to a cancellation account. Once the allowances are in the cancellation account, they can never be withdrawn.
Rules for voluntary cancellation
Within the ETS, the voluntary cancellation of emission allowances (EUAs, EUAAs, CHUs, CHUAs) can be done from an operator holding account (OHA), aircraft operator holding account (AOHA) or a trading account (TA).
Under the four-eye principle, one user must initiate the transaction and a second user must approve it, unless the account holder has set up the account in such a way that the approval of a second user is not required when cancelling.
The registry will always process a cancellation transaction immediately after approval. If no approval is required, this will be done immediately after the transaction is initiated, without delay and also outside the working hours of 10 AM to 4 PM.
CERs can be cancelled from a Kyoto account.
Cancelling emission allowances on the voluntary market
You can also cancel emission allowances on the voluntary market, i.e. outside the regulated EU ETS market. This allows for CO2 emissions to be compensated in an easily accessible way, as this often does not require an account in a CO2 registry. There are various market parties that can do this for you. The United Nations online platform is a platform known to the NEa where you can directly select projects for which you want to cancel CO2 allowances.