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SFW Ltd and CDC Climat deliver EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) system for aviation sector to Environment Agency

Woking, 25th July 2011 -- SFW and CDC Climat today announced the completion of Module 1 of The Emissions Trading Scheme Workflow Automation Project (ETSWAP). The project allows government regulators to keep accurate national records of greenhouse gas emissions, which is crucial for each European country to meet its emission reduction targets.

ETSWAP Module 1, in production in both the UK and Ireland, covers the aviation sector’s reporting of carbon emissions. Such reporting is required by the EU’s 2008/101/CE Directive (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32008L0101:en:NOT), which extended carbon reduction commitments to the aviation sector from 2012. The module has so far enabled the 600 Aviation Operators in the UK and 200 in Ireland to report on their 2010 emissions. These reports are used to set the benchmarks and consequent entitlement to carbon credits in 2012, the first full year of operation of the scheme.

ETSWAP is a unified workflow and messaging system which provides benefits both to regulators and operators by automating the Monitoring, Reporting and Permitting (MRV) processes both groups must follow to meet their obligations under EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). It includes benchmarking, permits, improvement planning, notification, variation and annual emissions reporting, emissions verification, inspection, payments and enforcement.  

ETSWAP Module 2, now being built for delivery in November 2011, provides equivalent functionality for fixed installations which have been subject to restrictions since the beginning of the EU ETS.

Sue Stocks, National Trading & Regulatory Services Manager at the Environment Agency said, “The ETSWAP system provides tangible benefits to both operators and regulators. The automated features ensure appropriate targeting of operators for such things as improvement reports and the web-based approach improves consistency and reduces the administrative burden on all those involved. The workflow planning features ensure an effective distribution of work between individuals in the regulatory team and make sure that 'nothing gets missed'. The reporting and tracking features have proved their worth with regard to the reporting obligations of aviation operators by allowing us to identify hold-ups in the process resulting from operator's inexperience and so allow us to provide timely assistance to help achieve compliance with legal obligations.”

It is believed ETSWAP is the first development of its kind and sets the benchmark for the EU emissions trading market as it meets a common set of requirements agreed by several EU member states. In addition to the efficiency savings for the EA, it is expected that ETSWAP will be sold internationally to other government agencies and bodies, with the EA retaining some of the licensing royalties.

Peter Hornsby, Director of SFW, said “We were faced with very challenging timescales in order that the relevant parts of the system could be deployed in time to allow the airline operators in the UK and Ireland to submit their reports by the March 31st deadline. We are pleased to say that this was achieved thanks to a superb team effort by all the parties involved. This project continues the successful partnership between SFW and CDC Climat in the delivery of systems to manage greenhouse gas emissions by operators and governments around the world and is an example not only of Anglo-French collaboration but also of a Government IT project which has been delivered on time and within budget.”

Pierre Ducret, Chairman and CEO of CDC Climat said “We are proud of this first delivery of ETSWAP to the UK and Irish competent authorities that have made the smart choice to pioneer a new generation of emission monitoring systems. It paves the way for the development of new services to governments -- in Europe and all over the world -- that need safe and efficient tools to serve their climate policies. CDC Climat and SFW are both ready to address this demand.”