Carbon market booms as Kyoto Protocol celebrates first birthday

On its first birthday, the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol on global warming remains troubled by political uncertainties but one of its offshoots — trading in greenhouse-gas emissions — is thriving.
Now CO2 is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets — and according to Point Carbon’s estimates, will be worth as much as 34 billion euros (40.2 billion dollars) annually by the end of this decade.

In 2004, the global volume of trade in CO2 was just 94 million tonnes. In 2005, it rose to 800 million tonnes. In January 2006 alone, the figure was more than 262 million tonnes for spot trading among European players alone.

sustdev