Am I affected by the reporting obligation?
As part of the ‘Fit for 55 Package’, the Emissions Trading Directive was amended at EU level to include a reporting obligation for municipal waste incineration plants with a rated thermal input of more than 20 megawatts. At national level, the European requirements of this directive were being transposed into national law through the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Act (TEHG).
Based on the information available with the monitoring plans for national emissions trading, DEHSt has identified those installations or parts of installations that are also subject to the reporting obligation in EU ETS 1 from 01/01/2024. The operators of installations that have been identified as subject to reporting in EU ETS 1 have been informed by letter.
How is the reporting obligation determined?
The reporting obligation of waste incineration plants in EU ETS 1 is determined with the approval of the EU ETS 1 monitoring plan for waste incineration plants by the DEHSt. The issuing of an emissions licence by the state authorities is not envisaged.
Obligations of the operators
For the reporting year 2025, the following roadmap applies to the monitoring plan amendment and the emissions report to be verified:
Prepare and submit a revised monitoring plan valid from 2025 onwards
Monitoring plans are adjusted in the FMS application ‘Überwachungsplan - nEHS, EU-ETS 1/Abfälle und EU-ETS 2’ as in the initial approval procedure. The operator submits the modified monitoring plan to us via the DEHSt mailbox on the DEHSt platform. The DEHSt reviews and approves the monitoring plan. Significant changes to the monitoring plan must be submitted immediately, but no later than 14/11/2025, so that the DEHSt can approve it by the end of the year.Preparing, verifying and submitting the 2025 emissions report
Based on the monitoring plan (XML file from the FMS application ‘Überwachungsplan - nEHS, EU-ETS 1/Abfälle und EU-ETS 2’), the operator creates the 2025 emissions report in the Excel template provided by us for this purpose. Unlike the monitoring plan in the FMS application, a separate 2025 emissions report must be created for each waste incineration installation subject to reporting requirements using the Excel template. Once the operator has entered the data, they send the Excel file to the verification body via the DEHSt platform. The verifier verifies the emissions report and documents its verification in the template for the verification report provided by us. The operator submits the verified 2025 emissions report together with the verification report from the verification body to us via the DEHSt mailbox on the DEHSt platform by 31/03/2026.
Documents on the topic (in German only)
Differences to National Emissions Trading System and Utilisation of Synergies
From 01/01/2024, certain waste incineration plants will be subject to obligations under both the European Emissions Trading System 1 (EU ETS 1) and the national emissions trading system (nEHS).
- Companies with installations that are subject to authorisation under number 8.1.1 or 8.1.2 with waste oil as the main fuel in accordance with Annex 1 of the 4th BImSchV and that are not already fully subject to the reporting and surrender obligation in EU ETS 1 must report the emissions from the waste fuels used in the nEHS and surrender nEHS allowances for this.
- Operators of municipal waste incineration plants with a rated thermal input greater than 20 megawatts must also monitor and report their emissions in EU ETS 1. However, there is no obligation to surrender EU emission allowances. The exemption for the incineration of hazardous waste remains in place. This means that plants for the incineration of hazardous waste are not covered by the pure reporting obligation of EU ETS 1.
The monitoring methods in the nEHS (EBeV 2030) can be transferred to the system of monitoring methods in EU ETS 1 (MVO).
Therefore, the data collection for installations that are covered by both the reporting and submission obligation in the nEHS and the reporting obligation in EU ETS 1 is based on the existing data structure for the nEHS. This avoids having to re-enter data that has already been submitted into the FMS application.
Guidelines and further assistance
The guide provides an overview of the requirements of the Monitoring Regulation for the reporting obligation in the EU ETS 1 and the eligibility of the methods from the nEHS for fulfilling this reporting obligation. In addition, it contains further explanations on creating and filling in the FMS forms for the monitoring plan. It also describes the preparation, verification and submission of the emissions report.
Leitfaden zur Erstellung von Überwachungsplänen und Emissionsberichten für Anlagen zur Verbrennung von Siedlungsabfällen (27/04/2026, PDF, 2MB, File meets accessibility standards) (available in German only)
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