Progress Report - Program Compliance and Market Activity

Program Compliance and Market Activity

Overview

Compliance for the Acid Rain Program (ARP) and each of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading programs is assessed on an annual basis, while market activity (i.e., allowance trading) is monitored throughout the year. Each regulated facility must hold an amount of allowances equal to or greater than its emissions for the relevant compliance period by each program’s allowance transfer deadline. If a facility fails to hold the allowances by the relevant deadline, it is subject to additional allowance surrenders. In addition, “assurance provisions” are included in the CSAPR programs to help ensure that each covered state achieves the required emissions reductions (visit EPA's CSAPR Assurance Provisions for more information). Historically, these programs achieve exceptionally high rates of compliance. This performance continued in 2022 as demonstrated in the table below.

For additional information on how emissions trading programs work review the story map, "Allowances: The Currency of EPA's Emissions Trading Programs", and visit EPA’s Emissions Trading Resources. 

Program Compliance Summary

Trading Program	Pollutant	Control Period	Facilities Holding Sufficient Allowances (%)*	Assurance Provisions Triggered?
Acid Rain Program	SO2	Annual	100	N/A
CSAPR SO2 Group 1	SO2	Annual	100	No
CSAPR SO2 Group 2	SO2	Annual	100	No
CSAPR NOx Annual	NOx	Annual	100	No
CSAPR NOx Ozone Season Group 1	NOx	Ozone Season†	100	No
CSAPR NOx Ozone Season Group 2	NOx	Ozone Season†	100	No
CSAPR NOx Ozone Season Group 3	NOx	Ozone Season†	100	No

* _{Percentages are as of each program's compliance date and may not include any data resubmissions that may occur.}
† _{Ozone Season runs May 1st to September 30th}

Program Compliance

EPA tracks allowances directly allocated to sources, deducted for compliance, and carried over or “banked” for future compliance years. The interactive charts below detail how the ARP and CSAPR trading programs' allowances were used to cover emissions for each year of a selected program’s history (In contrast to the ARP and CSAPR programs, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule is not an emissions trading program).

Select a program to view its compliance information graphs.

Market Activity

Market-based programs encourage participants to find cost-effective ways to comply with the emissions limit (or cap) set by EPA. Companies accomplish this by finding the most efficient and economically viable emission reductions not only among their own generating assets, but across the entire marketplace of power generators. Market participants may buy, trade, sell, or bank allowances for use in future years. In addition to ensuring compliance, EPA tracks allowance holdings and records transactions to better understand market trends.

Select a program to view its market activity graphs.

CSAPR NOx Annual ProgramCSAPR NOx Ozone Season Program Group 1CSAPR NOx Ozone Season Program Group 2CSAPR NOx Ozone Season Program Group 3CSAPR SO2 Annual Program Group 1CSAPR SO2 Annual Program Group 2Acid Rain Trading Program (SO2)