EEE in This Business Thru C-Lock:Carbon Markets , {C-Lock]
CLIMATE: Trading in global carbon market up 56% over last year -- report (02/26/2008)
Michael Burnham, E&ENews PM senior reporter
Global traders are on pace this year to buy and sell 4.2 billion tons of carbon emissions, a 56 percent increase over last year, according to Point Carbon.
At today's prices, the market would be worth about $92 billion, the Norway-based market analyst and consultant notes in a new report. The growth will be driven largely by greenhouse-gas options and auctions on the European Union's regulated Emissions Trading Scheme, which would be worth an estimated $68 billion at year's end.
Point Carbon expects the E.U. scheme's "Phase 2" cap to tighten the market for certified emissions reductions allowances.
"The Phase 2 cap will increase the traded volume compared to 2007 simply because there are more players short of allowances," Point Carbon analyst Kjetil Roine said in a statement.
The 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the United States and other carbon markets outside of the E.U. scheme and the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism will see transactions worth $2.1 billion, according to the report.