The global carbon market currently faces a deep demand crisis. The consequent price fall reduces the incentive to make low-carbon investments and thus increases the risk of locking in carbon-intensive infrastructure. The global carbon market relies on ambitious climate policy and consists of a mosaic of different schemes. Despite the current lack of ambitious global climate policy, various market-based approaches are emerging around the world, indicating increasing scope and fragmentation of the carbon markets. This report, conducted by GreenStream together with Climate Focus, analyses the status and outlook of global carbon markets and identifies measures and circumstances how new demand for carbon credits could be created to strengthen global efforts to limit the global average temperature rise to 2êC, taking into account the trend towards fragmentation of carbon markets.

The promise of harnessing market forces to combat climate change has been unsettled by low carbon prices, financial losses, and ongoing controversies in global carbon markets. And yet governments around the world remain committed to market-based solutions to bring down greenhouse gas emissions. This book discusses what went wrong with the marketisation of climate change and what this means for the future of action on climate change. The book explores the co-production of capitalism and climate change by developing new understandings of relationships between the appropriation, commodification and capitalisation of nature. The book reveals contradictions in carbon markets for addressing climate change as a socio-ecological, economic and political crisis, and points towards more targeted and democratic policies to combat climate change. This book will appeal to students, researchers, policy makers and campaigners who are interested in climate change and climate policy, and the political economy of capitalism and the environment.

Sectoral approaches can be considered part of a transition towards a global carbon market. Providing the potentially strongest link between the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) and sectoral approaches, sectoral benchmarks can be used for setting caps, free allocation, or can become a catalyst for linking carbon markets. There would be at least three ways to strengthen the effectiveness of sectoral approaches through the choice of performance, metrics, reporting and compliance. With the possibility of an increase in decentralisation and flexibility in the post-2012 architecture, bottom-up approaches would rely heavily on the correct conduct of measurement, reporting and verification of mitigation actions in developing countries. Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), there would be a hybrid range of agreements and mechanisms to make sectoral approaches operational.

The world carbon market is growing at a staggering rate with trading volumes into the tens of billions of dollars and approaching a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. The growth prospects for business are enormous and the potential positive impacts for greenhouse gas emission reductions, climate policy options, renewable energy investment, development projects and efficiency gains are increasingly apparent.A key part of the market in greenhouse gas emissions is the rapidly growing voluntary carbon market driven by companies, organizations and individuals committed to efficiency, profitability and rapid action on climate change. HSBC, Volvo, Avis, Ricoh and American Express are but a few of the many companies now offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions and becoming 'carbon neutral', fuelling an international voluntary carbon market that is growing exponentially. This groundbreaking business book, written in a fast-paced journalistic style, draws together all the key information on international voluntary carbon markets with commentary from leading practitioners and business people. The voluntary market is complex, fragmented and multi-layered, but it is beginning to consolidate around a few guiding practices and business models from which conclusions can be drawn about market direction and opportunities.The book covers all aspects of voluntary carbon markets around the world: what they are, how they work and, most critically, their business potential to help slow climate change. It is the indispensable guide for anyone seeking to understand voluntary carbon markets and capitalize on the opportunities they present for economic and environmental benefit. If you want to be ahead of the curve for the next big thing, you need this book.

Winner of the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010 award. This book is a comprehensive and accessible guide to understanding the opportunities offered by regulated and voluntary carbon markets for tackling climate change. Coverage includes: - An overview of the problem of climate change, with a concise review of the most recent scientific evidence in different fields - A highly accessible introduction to the economic theory and different constitutive elements of a carbon allowances market - Explanation of the Kyoto Protocol and its flexibility mechanisms - Explanation of how the EU Emissions Trading Scheme works in practice - Ongoing developments in regulated carbon markets in the US - Up-to-the-minute coverage of regulated carbon markets in Australia - Developments in New Zealand and Japan - Carbon offsetting and voluntary carbon markets. Combining theoretical aspects with practical applications, this book is for business leaders, financiers, carbon traders, lawyers, bankers, researchers, policy makers and anyone interested in market mechanisms to mitigate climate change. The carbon emissions resulting from the production of this book have been calculated, reduced and offset to render the bookcarbon neutral. Published with CO2 Neutral

As numerous jurisdictions implement emissions mitigation mechanisms that put a price on carbon, this incisive book explores the emerging emissions markets and their diverse and fragmented nature. It proposes an innovative model for connecting such markets, offering a significantly more successful and expeditious achievement of climate policy objectives.