In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
Carbon markets have emerged in recent decades as one of the most important tools for curbing industrial greenhouse gas emissions, but they present a number of novel enforcement challenges when compared with more conventional pollution regulations. These challenges include new regulators with narrow authority, lack of legal precedent, and more. …
This brief explores two different types of carbon markets: baseline-and-credit mechanisms, which are primarily structured around offsetting and enable trade in certified emissions reductions between countries and companies (an example being the Clean Development Mechanism –CDM); and cap and trade schemes or emissions trading systems (ETS), which are based on …
Putting a price on carbon can be an indispensable part of a country’s strategy to reduce emissions in an efficient way. Furthermore, putting a price on carbon through international carbon markets can also offer significant cost benefits and enable flexibility in achieving emission reduction targets. Article 6 of the Paris …
A new report from Ecosystem Marketplace, shows that funding to conserve and increase carbon stored in forests around the world has more than doubled between 2016 and 2019. But authors say forest carbon finance still falls far short of what’s needed to counter global forest loss and support increased climate …
Twelve northeast and mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia are participating in the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI), a regional transportation effort to coordinate investment in cleaner transportation and infrastructure. One expected element of the program is a price on carbon emissions from transportation to be implemented through emissions cap …
This paper assesses the overall costs and distributional impacts of China’s planned nationwide emissions trading system for CO2 emissions reductions, a system that will differ from cap and trade and become the largest CO2 trading system in the world.
Past cap-and-trade programmes have tended to encourage polluters to adopt existing abatement technologies, but have generally had little effect on innovation. This paper presents new evidence that the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) may have bucked this trend and encouraged innovation rather than adoption.
Past cap-and-trade programmes have tended to encourage polluters to adopt existing abatement technologies, but have generally had little effect on innovation. This paper presents new evidence that the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) may have bucked this trend and encouraged innovation rather than adoption.
The International Carbon Action Partnership’s new report finds 2017 marks a key step forward for emissions trading. The adoption of ETSs in emerging economies, structural reforms and new cooperation initiatives have boosted confidence in carbon markets and help establish emissions trading as an important tool in reaching the goals of …
The U.S. state of California and two Canadian provinces kicked off a cross-border auction of greenhouse gas emission credits on Wednesday, their first joint effort to buy and sell in the "cap and trade" market to fight global warming, experts said. The auction comes less than two months after the …
This report highlights the most effective carbon-reducing policies and practices from the top 22 greenhouse gas emitting countries. The Report is inspirational, heartening, and contains useful information that could help your state, region, or country reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and meet its Paris Agreement Pledge.
The purpose of this issue brief is to provide an overview of the latest movement of the emissions trading scheme (ETS), with a focus on the three key Asian carbon markets in Tokyo, China (esp. the pilots) and the Republic of Korea (hereinafter abbreviated as Korea).
Emissions trading is now a well-established tool for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to mitigate the impacts of global climate change. By the end of 2017, Emissions Trading Systems (ETSs) will regulate more than seven billion tons of CO2e, with 19 systems operating worldwide. This paper is …
The purpose of this Commission is to explore explicit carbon-pricing options and levels that would induce the change in behaviors—particularly in those driving the investments in infrastructure, technology, and equipment—needed to deliver on the temperature objective of the Paris Agreement, in a way that fosters economic growth and development, as …
A combination of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and California’s Cap-and-Trade Program can reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on oil more economically and effectively, relative to Cap-and-Trade alone. That’s the conclusion from new research performed by the consulting firm ICF and commissioned by a group …
The International Carbon Action Partnership’s (ICAP) Status Report 2017, provides a testament to the evolution of emissions trading from textbook assumptions to the real world. With the launch of China’s national emissions trading system (ETS) later this year, ETS will operate in economies generating close to half of the world’s …
Canada will impose a carbon price on provinces that do not adequately regulate emissions by themselves, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said on Sunday without giving details on how the Liberal government will do so. Speaking on the CTV broadcaster's "Question Period," a national politics talk show, McKenna said the new …
Mexico will launch a year-long simulation of a cap-and-trade program in November, Mexican officials said on Monday, in a test run for a national carbon market expected to launch in 2018. The pilot program will involve the voluntary participation of up to 60 companies, giving them a chance to adapt …
This paper discusses how carbon pricing can facilitate a low-carbon transition, or a further net zero carbon transition, responding to the Paris Agreement. There is a strong synergy between carbon pricing and the Paris Agreement; the call for ambitious climate actions through carbon pricing by both heads of governments and …
Staff for California's air regulator on Thursday recommended the state extend its carbon cap and trade system beyond 2020, a move supported by utilities and some environmental groups but opposed by environmental activists representing low income communities. The show of support comes after the state failed to sell any permits …
