What greenhouse gas certification means in Georgian law
In international practice, certification of greenhouse gases is often associated with voluntary markets and trading schemes. Georgia has no such standalone certification statute — this must be said plainly, at the start. What does exist is a mandatory system established by the Law of Georgia on Environmental Protection: the authorization of greenhouse gas emissions and the regime of monitoring, reporting and verification. That machinery is what a Georgian company should understand as greenhouse gas certification: a state-issued authorization, an annual report, and verification by an independent verifier. This page explains in detail how the system works.
The building blocks of the system are three. Emission norms, which set limits on the release of harmful substances into the environment. Authorization, which legalizes a specific activity as a source of greenhouse gases. And the verifier — an independent person who examines the annual report. Together the three form precisely what international terminology calls monitoring, reporting and verification.
Permissible limit norms for emissions
The permissible limit norms for the emission of harmful substances into the environment and for pollution of the environment by microorganisms are developed for each specific source of pollution, taking into account its technological features and the background pollution of its location, in such a way that the concentration of emitted substances and microorganisms on site does not exceed the permissible limit concentration level. These norms are determined once every five years by the relevant regulation, which the ministry elaborates and approves.
From the climate standpoint the law sets a separate rule: for the purpose of protecting the climate of the earth from global changes, the subject of an activity is obliged to observe the norms for the emission into the atmosphere of gases causing the greenhouse effect and to carry out measures for their reduction. The release of gases causing the greenhouse effect is regulated on the basis of the integrated system of environmental pollution control. This is the legal hook that connects your facility to the climate regime regardless of any voluntary market scheme.
Greenhouse gas emissions authorization
For activities determined by a resolution of the Government of Georgia, a greenhouse gas emissions authorization is mandatory. Save for aviation activities, the authorization is issued by the National Environment Agency, a public-law legal entity within the system of the ministry; for aviation activities determined by government resolution, by the Civil Aviation Agency. The application must contain a description of the installations and activities, including technologies, that may cause greenhouse gas emissions; information on the raw and auxiliary materials whose use may cause emissions; information on the emission sources determined by government resolution; a draft monitoring and reporting plan; and a short non-technical summary of the information, prepared in non-technical language and, where necessary, accompanied by graphical or illustrative materials.
The authorization is an individual administrative-legal act and is issued for an indefinite term. It must conform to the requirements of the General Administrative Code and must contain the name, identification number or personal number and address of the person carrying out the activity; a description of the activity and of the greenhouse gas emissions; the greenhouse gas emissions monitoring plan, which must satisfy the requirements determined by government resolution and is approved together with the authorization decision; and the obligations related to reporting. Before approving the monitoring plan, the issuing authority may set up an expert commission or invite an expert, who examines the plan and submits a conclusion.
Among the grounds for declaring the authorization invalid are: the request of the person carrying out the activity; failure to commence the activity within 5 years of receiving the authorization; and suspension of the activity for 2 calendar years where the person fails to substantiate that repair or renovation works were carried out during that period. The holder may transfer the authorization, in whole or in part, to another person provided this does not contradict the essence of the activity or the requirements of the legislation — a transfer carries both the rights and the corresponding obligations, and the recipient may carry on the activity only after the relevant act or decision has been issued.
Monitoring and the annual report
The person carrying out the activity is obliged to conduct monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions on the basis of the monitoring plan, in accordance with the categorization of installations, the flows of emission sources and the corresponding methodology. Every year, no later than 31 March of the relevant year, an annual report on greenhouse gas emissions must be submitted, verified by a verifier in the appropriate form. Upon submission of the report, the reporting obligation of the person carrying out the activity is deemed fulfilled.
Any planned change in an operating condition related to the activity that may affect greenhouse gas emissions must be notified to the authority immediately, and a proposal for amendments to the monitoring plan must be submitted no later than 31 December of the relevant year. Within 5 working days of receiving the verified report, the issuing authority ensures its publication on the environmental information portal — meaning your emissions data becomes public.
Who is the verifier
The verifier is a person accredited to verify annual greenhouse gas emission reports — accredited either by the unified national accreditation body, the Accreditation Center, or by a conformity assessment body accredited in a country signatory to the multilateral recognition agreement of the European co-operation for Accreditation. This definition was written into the law so as to enter into force on 1 January 2028 — from that date the institution of mandatory independent verification becomes fully operational. For international aviation, within the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the requirements for monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions are established by an order of the Director of the Civil Aviation Agency.
What a company should do
The practical steps are these. Check whether your activity falls within the list determined by government resolution. If it does, prepare a complete application including the non-technical summary. Design the monitoring plan so that it satisfies the requirements determined by government resolution. And select an accredited verifier in good time so as not to miss the 31 March deadline. Bear in mind that emission norms are renewed once every five years, so one-off preparation is not enough — the certification system, in the Georgian sense, is a continuous process. Legal.ge.