The German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) published last week its report on the country’s auction results for the first eight months of 2023. The document also “contains a comprehensive overview of secondary market developments,” as stated by DEHSt.

In the first eight months of 2023, the value of the traded volume (on the primary and secondary market) totaled around €5,82 billion. The figure is 3% below the same period last year.

Calculations by the DEHSt also show that in August, 4% of the traded volume was related to auctions (primary market), with a total of 27 million allowances being auctioned by Member States.

Also in August, trading on the secondary market amounted to just 583 million EUAs well below the same figure in July (640 million EUAs ) and just slightly lower than in August 2022 (562 million EUAs).

It is interesting to mention that the slowest month this year on the secondary market, in terms of trading, was April. Just 535 million EUAs were sold, the lowest level since February 2018.

However, the biggest volume was recorded in March when transactions on the secondary market exceeded one billion EUAs, suggesting that last-minute compliance buying was limited this year, with most operators hedging their carbon exposure in advance.