Conditions for fulfilling the requirements for a free allocation of emission allowances clarified by Court of Justice

​​The Court of Justice handed down a judgment in Aurubis (C-271/20) ruling that the requirements for a free allocation of emission allowances on the basis of a ‘fuel benchmark sub-installation’ are fulfilled where copper concentrate is used both as a source of raw material and as a combustible material to generate heat.

The case stems from a request for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Administrative Court of Berlin (Verwaltungsgericht Berlin), in a dispute between the German competent authorities for emissions trading, and a company that manufactures raw metals and produces copper. Following an allocation of certain free emission allowances by German authorities, the company lodged an objection leading to German authorities