So far, experience from sale of CO2 allowances is limited to the period which ran from 2005 to 2007. More than 5 million allowances were sold on the market.
In the first period (2005-2007), Denmark chose to sell 5% of its total number of allowances on the market. This is evident from section 15(2) and section 21 of Act no. 493 of 9 June 2004 on CO2 allowances. The total number of allowances sold amounted to 5,025,000. These allowances were sold directly on the market through two agents.
No actual auctioning pool has been allocated for the second period (2008-2012). However, the following allowances may be sold on the market: 1) allowances which companies have in surplus due to ceased production, and 2) allowances which are left over from the pool of allowances allocated to new companies. This is evident from section 15(5) and section 21 of Consolidated Act no. 348 of 9 May 2008 on CO2 allowances and from the Danish National Allocation Plan 2008-2012. So far there has been no decision on sale of allowances for the second period.
It is expected that a substantial number of allowances will be auctioned in the third period (2013-2020), due to the EU climate and energy package. So far there has been no decision as to the scope, timing and method for allowance auctioning in the third period.
See also the European Commission’s webpage on auctioning.
Upcoming regulation on auctioning of CO2 allowances
From 2013, a large proportion of CO2 allowances will be auctioned. No later than 30 June 2010, the EU will adopt a regulation on auctioning.