Extended Emissions Standards Exemptions for Vehicle Manufacturers

Posted on: January 10, 2012

New legislation: The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2011
Amended legislation: The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986
Who does this affect: Great Britain – Vehicle manufacturer
When does this change take place: 14th January 2012

These Regulations amend the 1986 Regulations under which “end-of-series” light goods vehicles are given exemptions from new EU emissions standards for defined periods of time so that they may be sold for additional periods even though they do not meet the new EU emissions standards.
Under the amendments categories of end-of-series light goods vehicles with exemption are extended to include N1 class II and III vehicles (goods vehicles over 1305kg reference mass and below 3500kg maximum permissible laden mass) and N2 goods vehicles of less than 2610kg reference mass.

The full text of the Regulations can be found here.

Published: 06 January 2012

CERT and CESP Threshold Raised for Electricity and Gas Suppliers

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New legislation: The Electricity and Gas (Carbon Emissions and Community Energy Saving) (Amendment) Order 2011
Amended legislation:
The Electricity and Gas (Carbon Emissions Reduction) Order 2008
The Electricity and Gas (Community Energy Saving Programme) Order 2009
Who does this affect: Great Britain – Suppliers of electricity or gas
When does this change take place: 22nd December 2011

This Order introduces amendments to the Gas (Carbon Emissions and Community Energy Saving) (Amendment) Order 2011 which amends the Electricity and Gas (Carbon Emissions Reduction) Order 2008 (known as CERT) and the Electricity and Gas (Community Energy Saving Programme) Order 2009 (known as CESP).
Under the Order the threshold at which electricity or gas suppliers are required to participate in the CERT and CESP schemes is increased. From 1st April 2012, suppliers will only have an obligation under the schemes if they have 250,000 or more domestic electricity or gas customers on 31st December 2011, rather than the 50,000 figure currently. The Order also makes some consequential amendments to both the CERT Order and the CESP Order which are necessary as a result of this change.

The full text of the Order can be found here.

Changes to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

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New legislation: The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2011
Amended legislation: The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007
Who does this affect: UK – Transport fuel suppliers
When does this change take place: 15th January 2012

This Order makes several amendments to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation under which owners of liquid fossil fuel intended for road transport use must ensure that either a certain amount of biofuel is supplied or that a substitute amount of money is paid.
Under the amendments, biofuel must now meet set sustainability criteria to be eligible for receipt of Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates and suppliers must provide an independent audit report to verify this.
Also, supplies of biofuel produced from waste, residues, non-food cellulosic material and ligno-cellulosic material will be eligible for two certificates per litre of sustainable biofuel supplied, double that of biofuels from other sources.
The Order also expands the scope of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation such that all renewable fuels of biological origin for use in road vehicles are eligible for reward, including the renewable portion of fuels that are partly made from renewable sources. This approach will enable newly developed renewable fuels to automatically count towards the Obligation.
Changes have also been made to the current Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation enforcement regime: suppliers are now required to provide information that is “accurate”, rather than “accurate to the best of the supplier’s knowledge and belief”. Suppliers failing to submit a verifier’s opinion on certain additional sustainability information is now a civil penalty capped at the lesser of 10 per cent of annual turnover or £50,000.

The full text of the Order can be found here.

Published: 06 January 2012

Changes to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

Posted on:

New legislation: The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2011
Amended legislation: The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007
Who does this affect: UK – Transport fuel suppliers
When does this change take place: 15th January 2012

These Regulations update UK legislative provision for Emissions Trading System registries and where necessary implementing the new European Union Registries Regulation 2010. They also enable the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Environment Northern Ireland to make charging schemes to recover the costs they incur in respect of performing various functions.
In addition, the Regulations also enable an application to be made for a greenhouse gas emissions permit covering an activity carried out at an installation for which a permit is only required from 2013.

The full text of the Regulations can be found here.

Published: 06 January 2012

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Changes

Posted on: January 9, 2012

New legislation: The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Registries and Fees etc.) Regulations 2011
Amended legislation: Various
Who does this affect: UK – Operators covered by the EU ETS
When does this change take place: 1st January 2012

These Regulations update UK legislative provision for Emissions Trading System registries and where necessary implementing the new European Union Registries Regulation 2010. They also enable the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Environment Northern Ireland to make charging schemes to recover the costs they incur in respect of performing various functions.
In addition, the Regulations also enable an application to be made for a greenhouse gas emissions permit covering an activity carried out at an installation for which a permit is only required from 2013.

The full text of the Regulations can be found here.

Published: 06 January 2012

Revised Authorised Fuels for Smoke Control Areas in Wales

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New legislation: The Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2011
Amended legislation: The Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) (Wales) Regulations 2008
Who does this affect: Wales – Operators of fireplaces within smoke control areas
When does this change take place: 31st December 2011

Five new types of fuel have been added to the list of fuels declared to be authorised fuels for use in smoke control areas in Wales under the Clean Air Act 1993, and the specification for one type of fuel has been amended.

The full text of the Regulations can be found here English / yma Cymraeg

Published: 06 January 2012

Petrol Vapour Recovery Controls Extended

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New legislation: The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011
Amended legislation: The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010
Who does this affect: England and Wales
When does this change take place: 1st January 2012

These Regulations amend the Environmental Permitting Regulations to transpose the requirements of European Directive 2009/126/EC on Stage II petrol vapour recovery during refuelling of motor vehicles at service stations.
Stage II petrol vapour recovery involves recovering the petrol vapour displaced from the fuel tank of a motor vehicle during refuelling at a service station and transferring that petrol vapour to an underground storage tank at the service station or back to the petrol dispenser for resale.
Directive 2009/126/EC establishes a minimum level of petrol vapour recovery and introduces requirements for more extensive deployment of Stage II controls than currently exist in the UK which regulators will need to observe in relation to permits for motor vehicle refuelling activities.

The full text of the Regulations can be found here.

Published: 06 January 2012

Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Launched

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New legislation: The Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations 2011
Who does this affect: UK – Organisations generating renewable heat
When does this change take place: 28th November 2011

These Regulations establish a renewable heat incentive scheme to facilitate and encourage the renewable generation of heat. Under the scheme eligible generators of renewable heat and producers of biomethane can receive subsidy payments.
The Regulations specify both the criteria with which a plant generating heat must comply in order to be eligible for the scheme and also the eligible purposes for which heat will receive payment. They also stipulate requirements relating to the use of solid biomass and biogas and the production of biomethane.
Organisations are now able to apply to Ofgem for support under the scheme and can receive payments on a quarterly basis for heat generated over 20 years.

The full text of the Regulations can be found here.

Further information on the RHI Scheme can be found here.

Published: 06 January 2012

SAFEcontractor Accreditation Service

Posted on:

We are pleased to announce that Environmental Compliance Ltd now has SAFEcontractor Accreditation.

The certificate can be used to demonstrate to our clients the high standard of health and safety we have attained, and to reduce the burden of completing future prequalification questionnaires.

See http://bit.ly/jflLbT for details.

Hierarchy for the derivation of new Environmental Assessment Levels

Posted on: January 5, 2012

The number of substances now assigned an Environment Assessment Level has declined by over 70% since 2008. The previous hierarchy used Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS), the World Health Organization (WHO), EU Limit Values and values derived from Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs). Following a review by the Health and Safety Executive, the robust nature of some OELs has been questioned. This has resulted in the need for a new methodology to derive new Environmental Assessment Levels for substances which no longer possess them.

This consultation proposes a hierarchy which contains new methodologies that no longer rely on occupational exposure as the basis for their calculation.

For further information, visit the Environment Agency website or click on the following link:

https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/portal/ho/ep/eals/hierarchy