Commission Regulation (EU) No 550/2011 on determining certain restrictions on the use of credits created under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) from industrial gases, entered into force in 2011. In particular, the regulation provided that, from 1 January 2013 and 30 April 2013, the use of credits from two industrial gases (HFC23 and N2O) based on Article 11(a) of Directive 2003/87/EC is prohibited under the relevant European legislation on greenhouse gases.
As five years have elapsed since the regulation entered into force, can the Commission provide the following information:
1. What happened to the plants that were destroying these two industrial gases and how did the countries hosting these plants deal with the pollution resulting from the emission of these greenhouse gases?
2. Before being prohibited, what were the fluctuations of the relevant credits in the European Emissions Trading System and what happened to the sales and purchases of these credits outside Europe under the CDM?
3. How does the Commission ultimately assess Regulation (EU) No 550/2011 in terms of economic and environmental effectiveness?