The Climate Change Agreements (Administration, Energy-intensive Installations and Eligible Facilities) (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations 2026

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Climate Change Agreements (Administration, Energy-intensive Installations and Eligible Facilities) (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations 2026 and come into force on 1st January 2027.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations-

'aircraft' includes gliders and missiles;

'coating material' means paint, printing ink, varnish, lacquer, dye, any metal oxide coating, any adhesive coating, any elastomer coating, any metal or plastic coating and any other coating material;

'data facility' means a room, or rooms sharing the same electricity supply circuit, occupied mainly or exclusively by computer equipment which is enabled to transfer data electronically, and where in respect of the room or rooms-

(a) the temperature and humidity are regulated in connection with the operation of the computer equipment, (b) the electricity supply is at least 200kW, and (c) electricity is supplied by a back-up electricity supply when the mains supply is interrupted;

'eligible process' means a process or activity, or a combination of processes or activities, carried out at the relevant installation, as described in the Schedule to these Regulations;

'food' includes-

(a) drink, (b) articles and substances of no nutritional value which are used for human consumption, and (c) articles and substances used as ingredients in the preparation of food;

'hazardous waste' means waste which displays any of the characteristics listed in Annex III of the Waste Framework Directive;

'installation' means a stationary technical unit;

'recovery' has the same meaning as in the Waste Framework Directive and related terms are to be construed accordingly;

'semi-processing' means debarking and sawing an unprocessed log;

'spirit drink' has the same meaning as in Regulation (EC) 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks;

'unprocessed log' means a log from which the branches have been removed, but to which no other processing has been applied;

'waste' means anything that-

(a) is waste within the meaning of Article 3(1) of the Waste Framework Directive, and (b) is not excluded from the scope of that Directive by Article 2(1), (2) or (3) of that Directive;

'the waste classification technical guidance' means the document titled 'Waste Classification: Guidance on the classification and assessment of waste (1st Edition v1.2.GB) Technical Guidance WM3' published by the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on 28 September 2021;

'waste co-incineration plant' means any installation whose main purpose is the generation of energy or production of material products and which uses waste as a regular or additional fuel or in which waste is thermally treated for the purpose of disposal through the incineration by oxidation of waste as well as other thermal treatment processes, such as pyrolysis, gasification or plasma process, if the substances resulting from the treatment are subsequently incinerated;

'the Waste Framework Directive' means Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste, as last amended by Directive (EU) 2018/851 and read in accordance with regulation 3;

'waste incineration plant' means any installation and equipment dedicated to the thermal treatment of waste, with or without recovery of the combustion heat generated, through the incineration by oxidation of waste as well as other thermal treatment processes, such as pyrolysis, gasification or plasma process, if the substances resulting from the treatment are subsequently incinerated.

Modification to the Waste Framework Directive

3. -(1) For the purposes of the interpretation of these Regulations, the Waste Framework Directive is to be read as follows.

(2) Article 2 is to be read as if-

(a) in paragraph 2- (i) in the words before point (a), for 'other Community legislation' there were substituted 'assimilated law'; (ii) in points (b) and (c), for 'Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002' there were substituted 'Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009'; (iii) in point (d), for the words from 'Directive 2006/21/EC' to the end there were substituted 'Article 2(1) of the Mining Waste Directive, and not excluded by Article 2(2) of that Directive'; (b) in paragraph 3, the words from 'Without prejudice' to 'Community legislation,' were omitted.

(3) Annex III is to be read as if-

(a) in entry HP 9 ('infectious'), in the second sentence, for the words from "reference' to the end substitute 'Part C9 of Appendix C to the waste classification technical guidance.'; (b) in entry HP 15 ('waste capable of exhibiting a hazardous property listed above but not directly displayed by the original waste'), in the sentence after the table, for the words from 'In addition' to the end substitute 'The attribution of HP 15 shall be assessed by the rules laid down in Part C15 of Appendix C to the waste classification technical guidance.'; (c) in the entry for test methods, for the words from 'other relevant CEN notes' to the end substitute 'Appendix D to the waste classification technical guidance.'

Meaning of the Mining Waste Directive

4. -(1) In regulation 3(2)(a)(iii), 'the Mining Waste Directive' means Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the management of waste from extractive industries, read in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2) Article 2 is to be read as if 'waste' were defined as in Article 3(1) of the Waste Framework Directive.

Energy-intensive Installations

5. -(1) The energy-intensive installations covered by paragraph 51 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 2000 ('paragraph 51') include any installation described in the Schedule to these Regulations where a relevant eligible process is carried out.

(2) But paragraph (3) applies where-

(a) an installation falls within paragraph (1), and (b) there is, on the same site as that installation, at least one location at which ancillary activities are carried out.

(3) An installation to which this paragraph applies (taken alone) is not covered by paragraph 51, but the combination of that installation and every such location is to be taken as an installation so covered.

(4) In paragraph (2), 'ancillary activities' are only-

(a) those that are directly associated with any of the primary activities carried out in the installation, (b) have a technical connection with those primary activities, and (c) could have an effect on environmental pollution.

(5) In paragraph (4)-

'primary activities', in relation to an installation falling within paragraph (1), refers to an activity the carrying out of which at the installation results in the installation falling within paragraph (1);

'environmental pollution' bears the same meaning as in the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999.

Amendment of the Climate Change Agreements (Eligible Facilities) Regulations 2012

6. -(1) The Climate Change Agreements (Eligible Facilities) Regulations 2012 are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 2 (interpretation)-

(a) omit the following definitions- (i) the Waste Framework Directive; (ii) aircraft; (iii) coating material; (iv) data facility; (v) eligible process; (vi) food; (vii) hazardous waste; (viii) recovery; (ix) semi-processing; (x) unprocessed log; (xi) waste; (xii) waste incineration plant; (xiii) waste co-incineration plant.

(b) in sub-paragraph (b) of the definition of 'installation' omit 'carrying out an eligible process';

(3) Omit the Schedule (list of processes and activities).

Amendment to the Climate Change Agreements (Administration) Regulations 2012

7. In the Climate Change Agreements (Administration) Regulations 2012, in regulation 12(3)(h), for '0.0497' substitute '0.0498'.

Consequential amendment and revocation

8. -(1) In the Climate Change Agreements (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2006, omit regulation 3.

(2) The Climate Change Agreements (Energy-intensive Installations) Regulations 2006 are revoked.

SCHEDULE

Regulation 5(1)

Descriptions of Installations and Eligible Processes

Each of the following descriptions includes a stipulation that the installation does not fall within any one or more of the descriptions of installation set out in the Table in paragraph 51 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 2000.

[Condensed summary of Schedule items 1-41: The Schedule lists 41 specific industrial categories and their corresponding 'eligible processes'. These include air separation (1), clay extraction (2), metal heat treatment (4), horticulture (5), textile manufacturing (6), plastic film and product production (7, 13), cold storage (12), leather finishing (25), red meat processing (27), and waste incineration (33-34). New categories include mechanical recycling of waste plastic (39), spirit packaging (40), and automotive battery cell production (41).]