The UN Climate Change secretariat announced this week that it is on schedule to complete the live connection of the UNFCCC International Transaction Log (ITL) with the European Union (EU) Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL) and 26 European Union greenhouse gas emissions trading system (EU ETS) registries. With the additions of the CITL and 26 EU ETS registries, the Kyoto trading system has now the critical mass that allows governments and legal entities to exchange and use emissions rights on a global scale, also taking advantage of credits stemming from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.

'ETS go-live has been a high priority project for the UNFCCC secretariat. We have worked closely with the European Commission and the EU member states in coordinating the extensive preparatory work that was necessary to achieve the full connectivity of the ETS registries to the ITL; we are now very pleased by its clear success,' said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer.

The ITL is now ready for starting real-time operation with the CITL and the national registries of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Community, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Earlier, five national registries had already joined the ITL along with the CDM registry.

'This event finalizes the infrastructure required for successful operation of all flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol,' the UN’s top climate change official said.' In terms of carbon market, ETS go live with the ITL expands the market size of carbon allowances in industrialized countries from about 24 billion tonnes CO2 equivalent to almost 50 billion, in addition, the CDM is expected to add soon another 100 million credits to the market.'

The UNFCCC secretariat plans to link the registries of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and the Ukraine later in October–November this year.

At that time almost all industrialized countries with emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol will have full access to the implementation of market-based mechanisms.

'The complete architecture of the Kyoto Protocol becomes fully operational this year. We have explicit emission reduction targets in place for most industrialized countries; we have established a credible, comprehensive system for reporting and verifying GHG emissions; and now we are completing the infrastructure for using the carbon market as a cost-effective means for meeting the targets,' emphasized Mr. de Boer.

The ITL will re-start processing transactions at 8:00 AM (CEST), on Thursday, 16 October 2008.