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(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Carbon Accounting (Determination of Excess UK Assigned Amount Units) Regulations 2023 and come into force on 1st July 2023.
(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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In these Regulations—
 “assigned amount” means the maximum allowable level of emissions of the United Kingdom for the second commitment period, calculated pursuant to its quantified emission limitation and reduction commitment in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol;
 “UK assigned amount unit” means a unit allocated to the United Kingdom pursuant to the Kyoto Protocol for the purpose of determining compliance by the United Kingdom with its obligation during the second commitment period not to exceed its assigned amount;
 “the Kyoto Protocol” means the protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change signed at New York on 9th May 1992, signed at Kyoto on 11th December 1997 and amended by the Doha Amendment, signed at Doha on 8th December 2012;
 “the second commitment period” means the second quantified emission limitation and reduction commitment period from 2013 to 2020 as adopted under the Kyoto Protocol.
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(1) The Secretary of State must as soon as is practicable after 31st March 2024—
(a) determine whether the assigned amount is greater than the sum of—
(i) the carbon budget for the 2013–2017 budgetary period; and
(ii) that part of the carbon budget for the 2018–2022 budgetary period which falls within the second commitment period; and
(b) where the assigned amount under sub-paragraph (a) is greater, calculate the number of UK assigned amount units that represent the excess.
(2) The calculation under paragraph (1)(b) must be made using the best evidence available to the Secretary of State at the time the calculation is made and must take into account—
(a) net UK emissions as reported in—
(i) the final statement for the carbon budget for the 2013-2017 budgetary period;
(ii) the annual statement of UK emissions in respect of 2022 insofar as that statement relates to the second commitment period; and
(b) net UK emissions as reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in the final accounting report for the United Kingdom for the second commitment period.
(3) The Secretary of State must ensure that UK assigned amount units that represent the excess, as calculated under paragraph (1)(b), are not used to offset greenhouse gas emissions in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
Graham Stuart
Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
At 12.30 p.m. on 25th May 2023