Emissions Trading — the Reality in Georgia
If you are looking for an emissions trading scheme on the European model — a quota market where producers buy and sell emission allowances — no such scheme exists in Georgia. Georgian legislation currently has no emissions trading system and no statutory carbon market; voluntary carbon credits are unregulated. What does exist is the regime of greenhouse gas emission authorization and monitoring, reporting and verification established by the Law on Environmental Protection — and this page explains the legal instruments you actually have for dealing with emissions today.
This distinction matters practically: strategies calculated on the European calendar do not transfer directly to Georgia. Here a company's climate obligation begins not with a quota but with compliance with emission norms and, in defined cases, with authorization; and any link to international trading markets — if it exists — must be achieved through other instruments.
The Starting Framework — Principles and Emission Norms
The starting legal framework consists of the basic principles of environmental protection: when planning and carrying out activities, state authorities and all natural and legal persons must be guided by the principles of risk reduction, sustainability, paid nature use, polluter pays and others. In the climate context this means: the emitter is answerable for the damage and obliged to reduce the risk.
At the technical level, the permissible limit norms for the emission of harmful substances into the environment are developed for each concrete source of pollution, taking into account its technological features and the background pollution of its location, while the norms themselves are determined once every five years by a regulation developed and approved by the ministry. This is the quantitative foundation on which any management of emissions — trading or reduction — must be built. A five year norm cycle means that emission baselines shift periodically, and compliance planning must follow the current regulation rather than historical figures.
Greenhouse Gas Emission Authorization
The central instrument of climate protection is the authorization. In order to protect the climate of the earth from global changes, the subject of an activity is obliged to observe the norms for the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and to carry out measures for their reduction; the emission of these gases is regulated on the basis of the integrated pollution control system.
For the activities determined by a resolution of the Government of Georgia, a greenhouse gas emission authorization is required. It is issued, except for aviation activities, by the National Environment Agency; for aviation activities determined by government resolution, by the Civil Aviation Agency. The application contains a description of the installations and activities, information on raw and auxiliary materials, data on emission sources, a draft monitoring and reporting plan, and a non technical summary. The authorization is issued for an unlimited term but is declared invalid if the activity is not started within 5 years of receipt or is suspended for 2 calendar years without substantiated repair or renovation works. Any planned change of an operating condition must be notified to the authority immediately, and proposals for amending the monitoring plan are best submitted by 31 December of the year. The authorization can also be transferred to another person, together with rights and obligations.
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification
The authorization operates under continuous verification: the operator conducts monitoring of emissions on the basis of the monitoring plan and, every year no later than 31 March of the respective year, submits an annual report which must be verified by a verifier. After receiving the verified report, the authority publishes it on the environmental information portal within 5 working days — these detailed operational requirements enter into force on 1 January 2028.
Within the scheme of carbon offsetting and reduction for international aviation, the requirements for monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions are established by an order of the director of the Civil Aviation Agency. This is the only quota like mechanism visible in Georgian legislation, and it applies to aviation alone. For everyone else, the verified annual report is the closest analogue to what trading systems elsewhere call a compliance instrument.
What This Means for Business
For a company seeking a carbon strategy, the route in Georgia is drawn as follows: first, determine whether your activity falls within the list of activities determined by government resolution for authorization; second, prepare the monitoring and reporting plan, because it is precisely that plan which becomes the substantive core of the authorization; third, observe the annual reporting deadlines and the verification rules, because this is the means by which your reduction effort becomes public and auditable.
If your goal is trading credits on international markets, bear in mind: Georgian law does not regulate that market, and decisions in this direction rest on the rules of other jurisdictions. In Georgia your only legal obligation regarding emissions is defined by authorization and reporting — and the precise fulfilment of that obligation is the best starting point for any international plan.
The Liability Dimension
Violations of environmental obligations carry general consequences in the climate sphere as well: under the polluter pays principle, the subject of an activity is obliged to compensate the damage caused to the environment, and the restitution principle requires the restoration of degraded environment. A violation of emission norms therefore does not end with administrative liability alone — the claim for compensation of damage stands separately.
In summary: an emissions trading market does not yet exist in Georgia; what exists are emission norms, authorization and verified reporting. Whoever masters these three instruments holds the complete Georgian toolkit of climate compliance — and will be ready for the day when international requirements grow further.