The UK’s bid to effectively go it alone with its own national emissions auction platform got the nod of approval from the European Commission’s (EC) Climate Change Committee (CCC) this week.

The CCC voted to approve the UK’s auction platform for phase III and aviation auctions under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

The UK, Germany and Poland all chose to have their own auctions for the next phase of the cap and trade scheme meant to cut greenhouse gases in European member states.

Welcoming the CCC vote, UK Energy Minister Greg Barker said: “This announcement is a further step towards ensuring that we can start auctioning phase III and aviation allowances as planned. The endorsement by the EU Climate Change Committee reflects the strength of the UK’s proposal and continued leading role in carbon auctioning.”

Member States are due to start auctioning some 120million phase III emissions allowances early before the end of this year.

The UK expects to begin its auction by the end of 2012 following a three month scrutiny period by the European Council and Parliament.