On January 1st 2005, the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) commenced operation in Europe, allowing the trade of CO₂ emission rights. The aim of this market-based system is to control GHG emissions by providing a financial incentive for companies to meet their mandatory emission reduction targets. Currently the scheme covers a limited number of European energy-intensive industry sectors. However, agreements have been reached to in the short term extend the scope of the EU ETS to include the European aviation industry as well.

By linking environmental data to the CO₂ market, it has become imperative to link monitoring practices to the approved monitoring protocol applied at all participating companies. The monitoring methodology has to be recorded in the monitoring plan that is required to be present at companies’ installations. In addition to describing the methods used to track emissions, the procedural aspects and verification practices that ensure the validity of the reported emission data also have to be described.

TIER 4 offers the following services:

• The design of monitoring plans in line with the guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to EU Emissions Trading Directive
• Implementation of monitoring systems
• Support in emission trading strategy design 
• Compliance audits for existing monitoring systems

For more information you can contact Meta Schouten, 010-4663643, or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it