Cap and Trade in Europe: System sets a standard, gains acceptance

摘要

Across the European Union, there are 10,000 combustion installations with a thermal capacity above 20 MW that are emitting carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Since 2005, these installations have been required to be licensed to emit CO_2 and to cancel one emission allowance for each ton of CO_2 they release. These allowances can be traded in what is so far the biggest cap-and-trade system in existence: the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS, or just ETS).