The Long Road to Carbon Pricing

Assigning a cost to CO₂See Carbon Dioxid and other greenhouse gas (ghg) Gas with physical properties that cause the Earth's atmosphere to warm up. There are a number of naturally occurring greenhouse gases... emissions by "putting a price on carbon" is recognized as one of the most effective means of combating climate change. Several mechanisms can be used to do this, including carbon tradingThe buying and selling of products in financial markets... markets and taxation.

The Kyoto ProtocolInternational agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change..., signed in December 1997, was the first international mechanism designed to reduce greenhouse gas (ghg) Gas with physical properties that cause the Earth's atmosphere to warm up. There are a number of naturally occurring greenhouse gases... emissions by putting a price on carbon. Over the past few years, a variety of initiatives launched by regions, major cities, large companies and associations have built on this original intergovernmental approach.

In 2005, the European Union put in place a carbon tradingThe buying and selling of products in financial markets... market that was the first – and is still the largest – of its kind in the world. But the price of carbon has so far failed to reach sufficient levels to send a meaningful signal to greenhouse gas (ghg) Gas with physical properties that cause the Earth's atmosphere to warm up. There are a number of naturally occurring greenhouse gases... emitters.

Climate change caused by greenhouse gas (ghg) Gas with physical properties that cause the Earth's atmosphere to warm up. There are a number of naturally occurring greenhouse gases... emissions is, by its very nature, a global issue. A common strategy and binding targets must therefore be defined on a planetary scale. This is the aim of the international climate change conferences held in Rio, Copenhagen and, in December 2015, Paris. The solutions then need to be implemented locally.