The Evolution Of Carbon Markets

Carbon markets are developing and expanding around the world, but how and to what extent is their design shaped by learning and interaction between them? How do these markets function and what is the role of design? Carrying out a ground-breaking analysis of their design and diffusion, this book covers all the major carbon market systems and processes around the world: the EU, RGGI, California, Tokyo, New Zealand, Australia, China, South Korea and Kazakhstan. It offers a systematic, in-depth discussion and comparison of the key design features in these systems with expert contributors exploring how, and to what extent, these features have been shaped by central policy diffusion mechanisms and domestic politics. By focussing on the specific design features of the instruments used, this volume makes important contributions to diffusion theory, highlighting how ETS diffusion processes more often have resulted in design divergence than convergence, and discussing the implications of this finding for the vision of linked systems in the post-Paris era. It will be of significant interest to a broad audience interested in the emergence, evolution, functioning and interaction of carbon markets.

The world carbon market is growing at a staggering rate with trading volumes into the tens of billions of dollars and approaching a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. The growth prospects for business are enormous and the potential positive impacts for greenhouse gas emission reductions, climate policy options, renewable energy investment, development projects and efficiency gains are increasingly apparent.A key part of the market in greenhouse gas emissions is the rapidly growing voluntary carbon market driven by companies, organizations and individuals committed to efficiency, profitability and rapid action on climate change. HSBC, Volvo, Avis, Ricoh and American Express are but a few of the many companies now offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions and becoming 'carbon neutral', fuelling an international voluntary carbon market that is growing exponentially. This groundbreaking business book, written in a fast-paced journalistic style, draws together all the key information on international voluntary carbon markets with commentary from leading practitioners and business people. The voluntary market is complex, fragmented and multi-layered, but it is beginning to consolidate around a few guiding practices and business models from which conclusions can be drawn about market direction and opportunities.The book covers all aspects of voluntary carbon markets around the world: what they are, how they work and, most critically, their business potential to help slow climate change. It is the indispensable guide for anyone seeking to understand voluntary carbon markets and capitalize on the opportunities they present for economic and environmental benefit. If you want to be ahead of the curve for the next big thing, you need this book.

The carbon markets are in the middle of a fundamental crisis - a crisis marked by collapsing prices, fleeing actors, and ever increasing greenhouse gas levels. Yet carbon trading remains at the heart of global attempts to respond to climate change. Not only this, but markets continue to proliferate - particularly in the Global South. The Politics of Carbon Markets helps to make sense of this paradox and brings two urgently needed insights to the analysis of carbon markets. First, the markets must be understood in relation to the politics involved in their development, maintenance and opposition. Second, this politics is multiform and pervasive. Implementation of new techniques and measuring tools, policy development and contestation, and the structuring context of institutional settings and macro-social forces all involve a variety of political actors and create new forms of political agency. The contributions study the total extent of the carbon markets, from their prehistory to their contemporary expansion and wider impacts. This wide-ranging political perspective on the carbon markets is invaluable to those studying and interested in ecological markets, climate change governance and environmental politics.

Winner of the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010 award. This book is a comprehensive and accessible guide to understanding the opportunities offered by regulated and voluntary carbon markets for tackling climate change. Coverage includes: - An overview of the problem of climate change, with a concise review of the most recent scientific evidence in different fields - A highly accessible introduction to the economic theory and different constitutive elements of a carbon allowances market - Explanation of the Kyoto Protocol and its flexibility mechanisms - Explanation of how the EU Emissions Trading Scheme works in practice - Ongoing developments in regulated carbon markets in the US - Up-to-the-minute coverage of regulated carbon markets in Australia - Developments in New Zealand and Japan - Carbon offsetting and voluntary carbon markets. Combining theoretical aspects with practical applications, this book is for business leaders, financiers, carbon traders, lawyers, bankers, researchers, policy makers and anyone interested in market mechanisms to mitigate climate change. The carbon emissions resulting from the production of this book have been calculated, reduced and offset to render the bookcarbon neutral. Published with CO2 Neutral

Explores the potential for financing small-scale high-benefit sustainable development projects through the voluntary and retail sector of the carbon market.

Through analysis of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), this book demonstrates how to use a variety of econometric techniques to analyze the evolving and expanding carbon markets sphere, techniques that can be extrapolated to the worldwide marketplace. It features stylized facts about carbon markets from an economics perspective, as well as covering key aspects of pricing strategies, risk and portfolio management.

Setting up a social and environmentally sustainable business is hard work. Most entrepreneurs struggle to raise investment capital and make a small profit. Carbon credits can be a welcome source of additional revenue for those businesses and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But where do you start? Practical information that is easy to apply to your specific situation is hard to find. The information you can find is often either too general, or full of complicated terminology. Hiring an expert is risky without an indication of whether you will be able to earn the money back. As a result many entrepreneurs are discouraged and never properly explore the possibilities of carbon credits, or get stuck somewhere in the process. This book is a beginner s guide for entrepreneurs who want to assess whether they can generate additional revenue with carbon credits. It provides a concise overview of the basics of carbon credits with a minimum of jargon, and illustrated with practical examples from real cases. Topics include: What are carbon credits? What are the basic requirements for a business or project to produce carbon credits? Where and how are they sold? What are the current prices and what influences these? Who are the different players in the industry, and what do they do? What are the different steps in the development of a carbon offset project? How do I choose a certification standard? How can I estimate the amount of carbon credits and revenue I can generate? This book addresses these questions in a way that is relevant to a wide variety of project types. Particular attention is given to the challenges of smaller projects in developing countries as well as forestry, agroforestry and biofuel projects."

In this timely book, Sven Rudolph and Elena Aydos take an interdisciplinary approach that combines sustainability economics, political economy, and legal concepts to answer two fundamental questions: How can carbon markets be designed to be effective, efficient and just at the same time? And how can the political barriers to sustainable carbon markets be overcome? The authors advance existing theoretical frameworks and examine empirical data from various real-life emissions trading schemes, identifying strategies and policy windows for implementing truly sustainable ETS.