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What is carbon trading?

Carbon trading is currently the central pillar of the Kyoto Protocol and other international agreements aimed at slowing climate change.

Carbon trading has both proponents and critics but is increasingly coming in for criticism, not least because CO2 emissions in industrialised countries have continued to rise rather than drastically drop as a result of energy infrastructure changes. The mechaniscs of carbon trading along with responses to the most commonly cited arguments for carbon trading are described in 'Trading Carbon. How it works and why it's controversial', FERN’s beginners guide to carbon trading. For links to many academic and activist articles on why carbon trading is not the answer if avoiding runaway climate change is the challenge, check out the CornerHouse website. 

FERN believes that carbon trading is a dangerous distraction from the important task of ending industrial use of fossil fuel and moving to a low carbon future. FERN focuses its campaigns on highlighting actions that the EU must take at home to ensure its carbon footprint is drastically reduced and it achieves its stated aim of keeping climate change below 2C.

FERN also believes that carbon trading becomes even more dangerous when it involves carbon offset projects - as is currently the case for all existing and planned carbon trading or 'cap-and-trade' schemes. For more information on carbon offset proejcts that involve tree planting please see SinksWatch.

 

 

Campaigns: 
Carbon Trading

Most recent publications

Europe cannot drill its way to a low-carbon economy, say climate justice groups

May 21, 2013

This press release warns that EU leaders' discussions about how to lower energy prices and ‘improve’ European industrial competitiveness must not be a smoke-screen for furthering fossil fuel extraction including shale gas.

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PR_May22_EnergySummit.pdf20.03 KB

NGO report busts the myths of the Emissions Trading Scheme

April 15, 2013

This press release European Parliament was launched in advance of a vote on the European Commission's proposal to backload 900 million emissions permits within the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). This vote assumes the EU ETS can be reformed, but ahead of the vote, a new report shows that the problems of the EU ETS are systemic and unresolvable. Keeping this failed system in place would further delay real action to reduce emissions in Europe.

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ETS myth busting-press release for web.pdf17.98 KB

EU ETS myth busting: Why it can’t be reformed and shouldn’t be replicated

April 15, 2013

Given the urgent need to limit  global warming, it is vital that the European Union (EU) gives itself the best tools with which to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Since the launch of the EU's ‘cornerstone policy’ to reduce emissions — the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), emissions have risen; there is increased reliance on coal; the price of consumer energy has risen along with the profits of many industrial actors (as a direct result of the EU ETS) and millions of euros of public money have been lost in VAT fraud.

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Myths_internet.pdf1.23 MB

FERN launches new trilingual carbon trading blog

April 5, 2013

Not a day goes by without more evidence of failed carbon offsets, fraud and crime, and windfall profits for the industries who were meant to be penalised by putting a price on carbon. Even market actors are losing interest, and record numbers of carbon-trading desks are closing shop.

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Press Statement_Announcing blog to Press Final.pdf73.92 KB

ETS reforms steal attention from measures that could actually work

March 1, 2013

FERN wrote this guest commentary for PointCarbon (www.pointcarbon.com) to highlight that the time has come to give up waiting for the "market" to deliver the structural changes needed to keep global warming below two degrees and start taking direct action.

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Guest commentary.pdf431.19 KB

Input to the consultation on structural options to strengthen the EU Emission Trading System

March 1, 2013

This input to the European Commission consultation on options to stregthen the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was signed onto by 21 organisations. It raised only was concern, that the consultation excludes a fundamental, seventh option: ending the ETS by 2020 and replacing it with other regulatory climate policies. This is a serious omission that leaves this consultation incomplete as an input toward a legislative proposal. After two years of decline, the prices of emission permits and carbon credits have reached historic lows.

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Collective submission EC climate action_28th Feb 2013.pdf77.73 KB

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