Emissions Trading Enters The World Stage

摘要

At first glance, emissions trading seems like smoke and mirrors. A company pollutes too much, so it purchases extra allowances from a company that pollutes less, creating a balance in the amount of metric tons of carbon dioxide that are produced and blowing smoke in the face of change. But such trading will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases as long as the caps - emission allowances - keep falling, experts say. Emissions trading will change the business plans of companies and will be one of the main tools in combating climate change. It holds the promise of helping less developed and developing countries become more energy efficient and save Mother Earth from developing a coughing fit. And the trading will be global. "It's the next big bubble," says Yves Lamoureux, a financial adviser at Blackmont Capital, an independent investment firm. "People think what we're talking about is the future, but it is now."