The current Indirect Emissions Cost Compensation Mechanism, established by Royal Decree 309/2022 of 3 May, which establishes the indirect cost compensation mechanism for industrial sectors and subsectors considered to be exposed to a significant risk of carbon leakage during the period 2021-2030, concludes its period of application in 2030 (to compensate for the costs incurred during the year 2030).

Royal Decree 309/2022, of 3 May, was approved as a result of the approval of the European Commission Communication (2020/C 317/04) “Guidelines on certain State aid measures in the context of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme after 2021 (hereinafter, the Guidelines), and of the European Commission Communication (2021/C528/01) supplementing the Guidelines on certain State aid measures in the context of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme after 2021.

The European Commission has recently started the process of revising the Guidelines, referred to in paragraph 67 thereof, in order to update certain technical parameters according to the latest available data. However, this review also takes into account both the amendments to the European regulations of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and the application of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 establishing a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

In addition, in line with the Action Plan for the European Chemical Industry adopted on 8 July 2025, given that the price assumptions made at the time of the adoption of the current Guidelines no longer reflect the current market conditions as they also affect other sectors, this review process covers the inclusion of new sectors in the mechanism.

To be able to apply the updating of the Guidelines, it is necessary to approve a Ministerial Order to modify the Annexes of Royal Decree 309/2022, of 3 May, which includes the new values of the parameters that make up the mechanism, the different conditions that affect them and the inclusion of the new sectors.

The main motivation for the elaboration of this rule is to transfer to the Spanish legal system the updates included in the guidelines established at European level to be able to give continuity to this compensation, based on the most recent data, for the sectors currently included in the mechanism and for the new sectors, which are influenced by the current European system of emission rights against their competitors from third countries (outside its scope), in such a way as to reduce the risk of carbon leakage, that is, to avoid the relocation of these facilities to third countries that have lower standards in terms of CO2 emissions and, therefore, to avoid the increase of emissions at global level.

The needs that this regulation intends to cover, in accordance with the aforementioned, are to update the normative framework related to the mechanism of compensation of indirect emissions, through the approval of a Ministerial Order that allows the modification of the Annexes of Royal Decree 309/2022, of May 3. The aforementioned Annexes contain both the list of eligible sectors and the value of the technical parameters that have been reviewed.

The aim of the regulation is to update the mechanism that makes it possible to offset the costs of emission allowances, as a result of the application of the Emissions Trading Directive (ETS), which have an impact on the price of electricity to be paid by the industrial consumer while its competitors in third countries do not face the same costs.

There is no non-regulatory alternative. A Ministerial Order should be adopted to allow the updating of the main parameters of the mechanism on the basis of the most recent data and conditionalities affecting them, as well as the inclusion of new sectors and subsectors eligible as a result of the increase in CO2 prices observed since the adoption of the Guidelines and the consequent increase in the risk of carbon leakage for these sectors.

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