New innovations lead to a step forward in global carbon trading

It has been pointed out that our modern world could quickly become cleaner, safer and more sustainable if only externalities, such as air pollution or carbon emissio

ns, were internalized, so that they could be captured and factored into the economic equation. Efforts to do this with greenhouse gases, so far, have had mixed results. The effectiveness of these market- driven programmes depend largely on the actual piece of carbon, which at present is very low, because of the fact that there is no uniform global carbon, trading system, only a patchwork of individuals countries. This creates fairness problems when countries that have regulations do business with countries that do not. This is so called carbon leakage will always occur to some extent until there is a truly global carbon emissions agreement. It has been announce that Australia will link up their emissions trading systems with the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS.). It represents a major step towards the establishment of a global system. With international climate negotiation occurring in Bangkok, talks are reportedly underway with California, South Korea and Switzerland to form a similar agreement. The European Union's ETS, which began in 2005, is the biggest programme by far, operating in 30 countries and covering power stations, oil refineries, iron and steel works, cement plants and more.

source: Terra Green