Conceptual and institutional aspects in implementing an Emissions Trading scheme

摘要

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has agreed on: (a) national commitments to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and; (b) instruments that are allowed to be implemented to achieve the reductions. Countries that have agreed to the Kyoto Protocol (the so-called Annex B-countries; namely the EU member states, Japan, Canada, Russia and several countries in Eastern Europe) will have to implement an emissions trading (ET) scheme within the next few years. This means to take the step from the instrumental framework to the level of a conceptual and institutional settings. This paper considers different methods of implementing an ET scheme within existing economic and social systems. It does this conceptually by discussing the pros and cons of different implementation systems. As the political process in the European Union is most developed in meeting Kyoto requirements the EU Draft Directive from the 23.10.2001 is used as the basis for this analysis.