Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will delay the compliance deadline for the 2021 UK ETS scheme, to allow the consultation on free allowances time to conclude.

UK Emissions Trading Scheme legislation establishes the legal requirement that the annual deadline for surrendering allowances is 30 April. This deadline is not discretionary and will not be delayed. This clarity regarding the timelines of the compliance cycle enables operators to plan ahead with confidence and ensure that they are able to meet their compliance obligations.

Through both free allocation and auctions, a total of 194 million allowances will have been released before the compliance deadline on 30 April, meaning that the UK ETS is well supplied to meet compliance demand.