The Revision of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System Ahead of the Fourth Trading Period, 2021–2030

The EU ETS is the cornerstone of the European Union’s climate policy. The EU ETS will play a decisive role in the European Union plan to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. In November 2017, following more than two years of negotiations, EU member states and the European Parliament reached a final agreement on the revision of the EU ETS for the period 2021–2030. The final agreement struck an important, ambitious balance on a number of measures designed to ensure that the EU ETS achieves its legislative aims of promoting emission reductions in a cost-effective manner. The negotiations also provide a number of policy lessons for future negotiations relating to the role of EU institutions and the rules for free allocation which will be important for the EU ETS to meet its legislative objectives. 1