Emissions Trading Schemes

Emissions trading is becoming an increasingly popular policy instrument with growing diversity in design. This book examines emissions trading design, emissions trading implementation problems and how to address them. In an easily accessible way

Asia and the Pacific has achieved rapid economic expansion in the recent years and has become a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With more than half of the world’s population and high rates of economic growth, the region is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change and therefore must play its part in cutting GHG emissions. The Paris Agreement adopted last December 2015 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP21 aims to restrict global warming to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to reach 1.5°C---which is especially relevant to Asia and the Pacific region given its vulnerability. This knowledge product highlights how robust policies on emissions trading systems (ETS) can be important tools in reducing GHG emissions in a cost-effective manner, as well as supporting the mobilization of finance together with deployment of innovative technologies. There are currently 17 ETSs in place in four continents and account for nearly 40% of global gross domestic product. In Asia and the Pacific region, there are 11 systems operating, with more being planned. The growing wealth of experience on ETSs can be valuable to support DMCs that are planning and designing new systems of their own. This knowledge product summarizes some of the most significant learning experiences to date and discusses some of the solutions to alleviate challenges that have been faced. It also examines the possibilities for future linked carbon markets in the region.

Over the last four decades emissions trading has enjoyed a high profile in environmental law scholarship and in environmental law and policy. Much of the discussion is promotional, preferring emissions trading above other regulatory strategies without, however, engaging with legal complexities embedded in conceptualising, scrutinising and managing emissions trading regimes. The combined effect of these debates is to create a perception that emissions trading is a straightforward regulatory strategy, imposable across various jurisdictions and environmental settings. This book shows that this view is problematic for at least two reasons. First, emissions trading responds to distinct environmental and non-environmental goals, including creating profit-centres, substituting bureaucratic control of resources, and ensuring regulatory compliance. This is important, as the particular purpose entrusted to a given emissions trading regime has, as its corollary, a particular governance structure, according to which the regime may be constructed and managed, and which trusts the emissions market, the state and rights in emissions allowances with distinct roles. Second, the governance structures of emissions trading regimes are culture-specific, which is a significant reminder of the importance of law in understanding not only how emissions trading schemes function but also what meaning is given to them as regulatory strategies. This is shown by deconstructing emissions trading discourses: that is, by inquiring into the assumptions about emissions trading, as featuring in emissions trading scholarship and in debates involving law and policymakers and the judiciary at the EU level. Ultimately, this book makes a strong argument for reconfiguring the common understanding of emissions trading schemes as regulatory strategies, and sets out a framework for analysis to sustain that reconfiguration.

This Open Access book provides detailed information about the incoming Mexican Emissions Trading System, including an analysis on why the system was implemented, how the system was designed, how it operates, how it could work, and how it could be strengthened by 2023 when it will be formally launched. This document is aimed at those who want to understand how an ETS can operate in an emerging economy. Although it has been written for experts and non-experts, this book does not provide the underlying theory of market-based instruments and emissions trading systems in general. The book can be read from start to finish, but can also be used as a reference for specific components of regional ETSs. The book draws upon a meticulous study of background documents and fieldwork from different authors to tell the story of how a Mexican ETS, the first of its kind in Latin America, can be set in the country. The emissions trading system cover many greenhouse gas emissions and has been hailed as one of the cornerstones of the Mexican climate policy. The book also examines and explains how the ETS is designed and implemented.

Since 2005 the carbon market has grown to a value of nearly $100 billion per annum, including the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and other schemes. This work covers the legal aspects of these schemes, as well as reform of the ETS, and the successor regime to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol currently being negotiated. It will be invaluable to those involved in the field.

This special issue of the Climate Policy journal outlines the fundamentals of the new European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), assesses the strategies for and impact of implementation and highlights the scheme's potential, including positive aspects and remaining hurdles. The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is the first international trading scheme for CO2 in the world. Its aim is to reduce the cost of compliance to existing targets under the Kyoto Protocol. From 1st January 2005, companies in high-energy sectors covered by the scheme must limit their CO2 emissions to allocated levels, arranged in two periods: from 2005-2007 and 2008-2012 (to match the first Kyoto commitment period). In practice, the scheme is likely to cover over 12,000 installations across the European Union, corresponding to approximately 46% of the total EU CO2 emissions. The EU ETS represents a significant development in working at an international level to combat dangerous climate change. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme presents a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the EU ETS, written by international experts in the field. The publication includes the latest research on emissions credits, the interaction of the trading scheme with national energy policies and the debate on future expansion.

Emissions trading challenges the management of companies in an entirely new manner: Not only does it, like other market-based environmental policy instruments, allow for a bigger flexibility in management decisions concerning emission issues. More importantly, it shifts the mode of governance of environmental policy from hierarchy to market. But how is this change reflected in management processes, decisions and organizational structures? The contributions in this book discuss the theoretical implications of different institutional designs of emissions trading schemes, review schemes that have been implemented in the US and Europe, and evaluate the range of investment decisions and corporate strategies which have resulted from the new policy framework.

This publication offers valuable lessons for applying tradeable permits and provides links between policy evaluation and policy making general.