Green CERs are ones which can be used for compliance in the EU ETS in Phase 3. Grey CERs can only be used for compliance up to compliance year 2012, that is, up to the compliance date of 30th April 2013.
Unfortunately it does not say on a CER whether it is green or grey; you cannot see its colour.
So if you have CERs and you want to hold over green CERs for Phase 3 but you want to use up grey CERs in Phase 2, then you need a way of checking. Alternatively, give us a ring and we can check for you at no charge. But if you want to do it yourself, here’s how:
1. Find out what project the CER comes from
To do this you need the serial number of the CERs you have. At the end of the serial number is the UNFCCC project number. This is what you need.
Here is a screenshot of a holding of CERs on a registry account.
2. Find your project on the UNFCCC website
On this page http://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/projsearch.html you can search for your project on the UNFCCC CDM project database. Type in the project number in the box “Reference number” and search.
3. Check the methodology of the project
Where your project is listed you will see a column for the methodology. It is the fifth column in the table.
4. Is it a disallowed methodology?
There are two kinds of projects which are disallowed so far under the grey CER rules (Commission Regulation no 550/2011, Article 1): those involving the destruction of HFC23 and of adipic acid.
These project kinds are covered by the following methodologies (you can check this here)
- AM0001 – Decomposition of fluoroform (HFC-23) waste streams
- AM0021 – Baseline Methodology for decomposition of N2O from existing adipic acid production plants
So, if the Methodology is either AM0001 or AM0021 then those CERs are grey. If not, they are green. In the above example the units are from project 0838 in India which indeed is an HFC23 project using AM0001. So these are grey CERs… unfortunately!
5. What next?
If you are planning to surrender the units in April 2013, then you can use grey ones for this. In this case, if you find green CERs on your account, you can swap them for grey ones and benefit from a small premium, since green CERs are worth more than grey ones.
If you are not planning to surrender CERs in April 2013 but you want to hold them and carry them forward to Phase 3, then make sure that any grey CERs are sold or swapped in time, before 30th April 2013.
Remember: we are happy to check green and grey CERs for you at no charge.