(1)

Annex VI to Commission Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 (2) determines the global warming potentials (GWP) for non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

(2)

Decision 15/CP.17 (3) of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in order to implement the use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, determines that from 2015 until a further decision by the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC the GWP used by the Parties to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalence of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases should be those listed in Annex III to Decision 15/CP.17.

(3)

In order to ensure consistency of the relevant Union legislation with the methodologies used in the context of the UNFCCC process, Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 should be amended accordingly.

(4)

In accordance with Article 13(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC, allowances issued from 1 January 2013 are to be valid for emissions for an eight-year trading period beginning on that date. The adjustment of the quantity of allowances to be issued from 1 January 2013 pursuant to Article 9a(1) of that Directive is determined taking into account the GWP listed in Annex III to Decision 15/CP.17 of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. As Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 applies from 1 January 2013, this Regulation should also apply from that date in order to ensure consistency of all greenhouse gas emission data reported throughout the entire eight-year trading period.

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Climate Change Committee,