As part of the NER300 initiative, the EIB is acting as an agent for the European Commission (EC) to sell 300 million EU Allowances (EUAs). The Bank started to sell on 5 December 2011 and the first tranche of 200 million EUAs was completed by 28 September 2012. Sales under the second tranche of the remaining 100 million EUAs will resume in mid-November 2013.

During the first tranche, EIB used various sales channels in a phased approach starting with over-the-counter (OTC) forwards, followed by direct screen trades on exchanges, OTC exchange-cleared transactions and auctions. Exchange transactions were sold or auctioned via the two selected carbon exchanges: European Energy Exchange (EEX) and ICE Futures Europe (ICE). EIB sought an even spread of volume of around 20 million EU allowances per month throughout the trading period with a single settlement date of December 2013.

Overview of NER300 monetisation process

The monetisation of the second tranche of 100 million EUAs started in mid-November 2013 and is envisaged to take place over a five months period with an expected average sales volume of 20 million EU Allowances per month. This means that sales of the second tranche will be completed before the award decisions for the 2nd call for NER 300 projects, which is expected to take place in mid-2014. This will allow alignment of NER300 sales with the 2nd call for proposal. All of the remaining 100 million EUAs Allowances will be sold as futures on the two exchanges used for the first tranche. While there are no restrictions what maturities could be used, the EIB aims to place the EUAs in the most liquid December contracts. No dedicated NER300 auctions are anticipated on either exchange for the second tranche sales.

Monthly reports are available since January 2012, highlighting overall sales volumes, sales channels and aggregated prices obtained. They are published two weeks from each month-end. The reports can be found at http://www.eib.org/products/ner-300/reports.htm.