EU Carbon Market Suspended After ‘Theft’

Environmental Leader, January 20, 2011

The European Union suspended most of its 72 billion euro carbon market yesterday after the suspected theft of 7 million euros of emissions permits from the Czech Republic’s carbon registry.
The EU halted most carbon market operations at all 30 member countries following the attack. It did not give a date for trade to resume, but said it would open the emissions trading scheme as each member state proved the security of its system, Reuters reported. Read more...

Tax Fraud Plagues Carbon Trading Program

ΕΝΝ, May 20, 2010

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, tax fraud is the carbon trading market’s most egregious form of cheating, affecting about seven percent of this $125 billion market in 2009. In August 2009, seven people were arrested near London for not paying tax on the sale of carbon permits, for a total of £38 million (about U.S. $63 million). The taxes were levied as part of the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading System, created in January 2005 and based on Directive 2003/87/EC, which was enforced beginning Oct. 25, 2003. Read more...

Global Carbon Trading Volumes Grew 68% in 2009

Environmental Leader, January 08, 2010

The global carbon trading market grew 68 percent last year compared with the previous year, despite a global economic downturn. But the value of the market remained virtually unchanged after carbon prices fell, averaging $16.40 in 2009.
That’s down from $27.15 in 2008, according to a new report from Point Carbon, reports the New York Times. The report shows the global carbon market reached $136 billion in 2009, up from $133 billion in 2008, and $58 billion in 2007, reports the New York Times. Read more...

EU lists industries exempted from carbon trading

EurActiv, September 21, 2009

Experts from the 27-member bloc agreed on a list of industries ranging from plastics manufacturing to iron and food processing that will be largely exempted from CO2 trading after 2013 for fears that their inclusion would move production abroad.
National experts agreed on a list of 164 sectors deemed to be at risk of relocating their activities to foreign countries that have not adopted greenhouse gas emission restrictions similar to the EU's. The threat is dubbed "carbon leakage" because industries and their related polluting emissions would simply move abroad without any benefit for the environment. Read more...

Analysts say global carbon market will pass $100B by year's end

ENN, October 13, 2008

The global carbon market is on pace to grow more than 80 percent this year to $116 billion, according to the clean-technology research and analytics firm New Energy Finance.
The burgeoning market -- which hinges on the buying and selling of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions-- grew almost 36 percent, from $64 billion at the start of January to $87 billion at the end of September. Read more...