(fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Following the amendment of Directive 2003/87/EC by Directive (EU) 2023/959 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 (3) needs to be amended to incorporate rules applying to the verification of achievement of milestones and targets specified in Article 10b(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC. To provide a structured way of reporting on milestones and targets achieved and to facilitate the verification thereof, procedural requirements have been included in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1842 (4) on the submission and content of a climate-neutrality report. It is essential to provide harmonised rules on the verification of such a report.

(2) In order to assess whether milestones and targets have been achieved, it is essential for the verifier to assess completeness and compliance of the climate-neutrality report with the requirements listed in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1842, check opportunities for improvement of the monitoring and reporting process and the accuracy of data in the climate-neutrality report. The verifier should take the climate-neutrality plan as a starting point and assess the operator’s conformity with that plan, in particular in relation to milestones, targets, measures and investments. In order for the competent authority to decide whether emission allowances have to be reduced in accordance with Article 22b(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331 (5), the verification report should contain sufficient information on any inconsistencies that could not be resolved before issuing that report, including any non-compliance of the climate-neutrality plan with the requirements laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2441 (6), that have been identified by the verifier.

(3) In order to align with harmonised rules and standards on verification of greenhouse gas emissions and allocation data, the definitions in Article 3 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067, the obligations in Article 4 and the application of the requirements in Chapters II and III to that Implementing Regulation should be extended to cover the verification of climate-neutrality reports unless that verification requires other tailored rules. Similarly, requirements on the accreditation of verifiers in Chapter V to that Implementing Regulation and the requirements on cooperation and information exchange between national accreditation bodies and competent authorities in Chapter VI to that Implementing Regulation should apply to the verification of climate-neutrality reports.

(4) It is essential for the verifier to obtain sufficient information to provide reasonable assurance that the climate-neutrality report is free from material misstatements and milestones and targets have been achieved. To ensure harmonised approaches, it is necessary to establish rules on the type of information to be shared between the operator and the verifier and the factors to consider in the strategic and risk analysis for the purpose of planning the verification.

(5) In order to assess the achievement of milestones and targets laid down in the climate-neutrality plan pursuant to Article 10b(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the verifier should check the data that is used to demonstrate that those milestones and targets have been achieved. To ensure harmonisation of verifier’s assessment of climate-neutrality reports across installations, rules should be established on checks to be performed on the operator’s evidence and climate-neutrality plan and gaps in the data used to demonstrate that the milestones or targets are achieved.

(6) For the purposes of planning the verification of climate-neutrality reports and assessing whether a misstatement, non-conformity or non-compliance is material, materiality level should be established. To apply its quantitative aspect and reduce the administrative burden, one uniform materiality level should be specified for all operators regardless of their size and emissions. The type of data to which the materiality level should be applied depends on the type of quantitative target defined in the climate-neutrality plan and should, in the interest of legal certainty, be specified in legislation. In addition, the verifier should consider the nature, size and particular circumstances of any misstatements, non-conformities or non-compliance issues.

(7) In accordance with Article 10a(1), fifth subparagraph and Article 10b(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC a climate-neutrality report can only be verified as satisfactory if the climate-neutrality report is free from material misstatements and if the milestones and targets laid down in the climate-neutrality plan have been achieved in respect of the relevant five-year period. To facilitate structured reporting by the verifier, rules should be specified on when a climate-neutrality report cannot be verified as satisfactory.

(8) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 (7) was amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2493 (8) to include monitoring and reporting rules on the zero-rating and non-zero rating of biomass fuels, renewable fuels of non-biological origin, recycled carbon fuels and synthetic low carbon fuels. As a result, existing rules on the verifier’s role in assessing the applicability of sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria established by Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) and evidence of compliance with those criteria need to be adapted. As part of the verifier’s assessment of the correct application of the monitoring methodology the verifier should check the operator’s, aircraft operator’s or regulated entity’s evidence whether the relevant sustainability criteria and greenhouse gas emission savings criteria laid down in Article 29(2) to (7) and (10) and Article 29a of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 for biomass fuels, renewable fuels of non-biological origin and recycled carbon fuels are applicable and whether those criteria have been met. Similar checks should apply when assessing compliance with greenhouse gas savings criteria laid down in Article 2(13) of Directive (EU) 2024/1788 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) for synthetic low carbon fuels. If the verifier identifies non-compliance with the applicable sustainability and greenhouse gas savings criteria, which cannot be corrected before issuing the verification report, that should be reported in the verification report.

(9) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 was amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2493 to regulate the attribution of alternative fuels or eligible aviation fuels and their emissions to specific flights. Where those fuels cannot be physically attributed to a specific flight, specific rules are included on the proportional attribution of those fuels to flights departing from airports and the timing of the delivery of the fuels to the fuelling system. In the interests of legal certainty and environmental integrity, it is appropriate to specify the verifier’s role in checking whether the relevant requirements in Article 53a to 54c of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 have been met.

(10) To ensure the correct proportional attribution of alternative aviation fuels and eligible aviation fuels to flights and inform the competent authority thereof, verifier should carry out checks on the completeness and accuracy of the amount of neat zero-rated alternative aviation fuel claimed and the amount of neat eligible aviation fuel per fuel category pursuant to Article 3c(6) of Directive 2003/87/EC. Any inconsistencies observed should be reported by the verifier in the verification report.

(11) In line with the extended scope of Annex I of Directive 2003/87/EC, new rules have been introduced by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2493 on the monitoring and reporting of CO2 transferred to installations or the CO2 transport infrastructure for long-term geological storage as specified in Article 49 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066. To make sure that inconsistencies in the subtraction of the amount of CO2 transferred are identified, it is essential to specify the checks a verifier should carry out when assessing the correct application of the monitoring methodology and the appropriate subtraction of CO2 transferred in accordance with Article 49 of that Implementing Regulation.

(12) To ensure that the CO2 permanently chemically bound in a product listed in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2620 (11) is correctly subtracted from the total emissions of an installations, it is essential to specify the checks to be carried out by the verifier on the quantity of CO2 permanently chemically bound in that products and the subtraction of that CO2.

(13) Following amendments in Directive (EU) 2023/958 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12), monitoring and reporting rules regarding non-CO2 aviation effects of aircraft operators are laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066. As a result of those changes, harmonised rules on the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects and the accreditation of verifiers carrying out such verification should be incorporated in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067.

(14) The verification of aircraft operator’s non-CO2 aviation effects report should follow the same steps as verification of aircraft operator’s CO2 emission reports. For that purpose, the definitions in Article 3, the obligation in Article 4 and the application of the requirements in Chapters II and III of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 should be extended to cover the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects unless specific characteristics of that verification require other tailored rules. Similarly, requirements on the accreditation of verifiers in Chapter V of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 and the requirements on cooperation and information exchange between national accreditation bodies and competent authorities in Chapter VI of that Implementing Regulation should apply to the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects.

(15) In accordance with Article 14(5) of Directive 2003/87/EC, automatization is to be applied as much as possible in the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects. Where non-CO2 aviation effects reports are automatically populated from the non-CO2 aviation effects tracking system (‘NEATS’) developed by the Commission or a third-party IT tool approved by the Commission without any involvement or amendment of input data by the aircraft operator, the non-CO2 aviation effects reports should be considered verified. In such cases the report has undergone automated verification checks by the system or tool. To ensure alignment with CO2 reporting and to achieve the highest data accuracy possible, a consistency check should be carried out as part of the verification of the aircraft operator’s emissions report between the flight information in the emission report and the flight information in the NEATS or the third-party IT tool whilst considering the scope of the flights covered by Directive 2003/87/EC. To minimise administrative burden such consistency checks should not be required for the smaller emitters. Any inconsistencies in the flight information should be reported by the verifier in the verification report.

(16) Where the aircraft operator uses their own data to input into NEATS or a third-party tool approved by the Commission or applies their own calculation methods, it is essential in the interests of environmental integrity and increasing public’s confidence in the accuracy of data for the non-CO2 aviation effects report to be verified by a competent and independent verifier.

(17) For verifiers to carry out a verification of a non-CO2 aviation effects report and assess the technical aspects of non-CO2 aviation effects monitoring and reporting, specific competence criteria should be defined. That should enable accreditation bodies to assess the verifier’s competence and performance against those specific criteria when accrediting and supervising verifiers.

(18) To increase public’s confidence in the quality and robustness of the verification whilst facilitating the accreditation and avoiding administrative burden, an extension of the existing accreditation scope 12 for aviation should be created for the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects report. Verifiers carrying out a verification of an emission report should be accredited according to accreditation scope 12a whereas verifiers verifying a non-CO2 aviation effects reports should be accredited for the extended accreditation scope 12b. In order to reduce the administrative burden, an exemption should be made for those situations where the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects reports is relatively simple because of the type of data input by the aircraft operator such as flight information, flight trajectory data or aircraft properties data. In such cases an accreditation against scope 12a should suffice.

(19) In order not to impact valid accreditations of verifiers verifying CO2 emission reports, verifiers that are accredited against accreditation scope 12 by the time this Regulation enters into force, should be able to verify aircraft operator’s emission reports, and non-CO2 aviation effects reports, where the aircraft operator only changes the flight information, flight trajectory data or aircraft properties in NEATS or the third-party tool approved by the Commission.

(20) It is essential for the verifier to have access to the IT systems used by aircraft operators to monitor and report non-CO2 aviation effects. Harmonised rules need to be established on the type of information, systems or tools to be shared between the operator and the verifier and the factors to consider in the strategic and risk analysis for the purpose of planning the verification.

(21) As part of the data verification, verifiers should perform specific consistency checks on the data that is used by aircraft operators when compiling the non-CO2 aviation effects reports. The type of checks should depend on the specific data input. Harmonised rules are needed to define those checks and how to address missing data in the non-CO2 aviation effects.

(22) To align with CO2 verification and to accommodate the fact that data on non-CO2 aviation effects are to a large extent processed and recorded in automated systems, the definition of site in CO2 verification and the rules on site visits to be carried out by the verifier should apply to the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects reports. Virtual site visits should be allowed under similar conditions. National accreditation bodies should monitor the application of those conditions and the performance of verifiers during such site visits as part of the annual surveillance of verifiers.

(23) In the interests of legal certainty and avoiding administrative burden, one uniform materiality level for all aircraft operators is appropriate for the purpose of planning the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects reports and supporting the verifier’s assessment in that verification whether a misstatement, non-conformity or non-compliance has a material impact.

(24) To ensure that individual or aggregate misstatements, non-conformity or non-compliance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 below the applicable materiality level are not ignored, those issues should also be regarded as material if this is justified given the nature, size and particular circumstances of that particular issue.

(25) To mitigate the administrative burden for regulated entities with simple monitoring situations and low risks, some simplifications should be built in the verification of these regulated entity’s reports. These simplifications should only be applicable under strict conditions to ensure the quality of verification and preserve the environmental integrity.

(26) To reduce the risk of endangering the impartiality of the verifier, the rules on impartiality and independence of the verifier and its staff carrying out verification activities should be extended to the verification of non-CO2 aviation effects reports.

(27) Pursuant to Article 14(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the rules for monitoring and reporting emissions from biomass fuels, renewable fuels of non-biological origin, recycled carbon fuels and synthetic low carbon fuels laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 apply as of 1 January 2024. Therefore, the rules on verification of emissions related to those fuels should apply to the verification of emission reports pertaining to the reporting period 2024.

(28) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Climate Change Committee,