CAN WASHINGTON LEARN FROM BRUSSELS’ MISTAKES?

August 8, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Reducing the carbon footprint: The US hopes to put suitable carbon trading permits in place to lower its greenhouse gas emissions.

By Mark Scott
www.spiegel.de

Avoiding Europe’s Carbon Trading Missteps

Early carbon trading efforts in the European Union flopped because regulators created too many credits and gave them away for free. Washington wants to do better.

The Berlaymont Building, a modernist, glass-fronted structure in the center of Brussels, is home to the European Commission — the European Union’s executive branch. Nicknamed the “Berlaymonster” because of its dominating position in a wealthy neighborhood of the Belgian capital, the building is bustling with policymakers from the European Union’s 27 member states on most days. But over the past three years, the Commission’s offices have welcomed guests from further afield. US officials have made repeated visits to tap Europe’s knowledge of carbon trading to help them develop a similar scheme — one that is now working its way through Congress.

The Americans certainly came to the right place. Since its inception back in 2005, the EU’s Emission Trading System has become the world’s largest cap-and-trade carbon scheme with a 2008 market value of $90 billion (€62.7 billion), according to consultants Point Carbon. That compares to a mere $240 million value for the Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, currently the largest mandatory scheme in the US.

Both plans set a limit, or cap, on total emissions. Companies then need a permit or allowance for every ton of greenhouse gas they emit. If a company has more permits than emissions, it can sell the excess permits on the open market. Based on a bill passed by the House of Representatives on June 26, the US system would follow a similar recipe. Read full article…