From: Tom Gray <tgray@igc.org>
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Date: 13 Aug 92 06:40 PDT
Subject: --CO2 Emissions Trading?
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1466601737:000:3668
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!tgray    Aug 13 06:40:00 1992


From: Tom Gray <tgray>
Subject: --CO2 Emissions Trading?

/* Written  6:36 am  Aug 13, 1992 by tgray in cdp:en.energy */
/* ---------- "--CO2 Emissions Trading?" ---------- */
CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS TRADING MAY
BE WAVE OF FUTURE, EXPERTS OPINE

An international emissions trading system for carbon dioxide
similar to that established for sulfur dioxide by the U.S.'s Clean
Air Act Amendments of 1990 is gaining interest and support,
according to a story carried recently by the Inter Press Service
(IPS).

The concept was discussed extensively at two recent international
conferences, one of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) and the other of the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the article said.

In general terms, an emissions trading agreement could be global in
scope or could be reached among the industrial nations.  In either
case, businesses would be given a fixed number of "permits" (called
"allowances" under the Clean Air law) to produce emissions of CO2,
the leading "greenhouse gas" associated with global warming.  In
future years, the total number of permits would be gradually
reduced.

Companies could buy, sell, or trade the permits with each other to
reach the most efficient allocation through market principles.

The concept of tradable permits is a politically appealing
approach, the article said, because it avoid raising taxes.  In
addition, it does not involve government bureaucrats in writing
restrictions for individual companies (as a system of non-tradable
quotas might), and it provides a positive incentive for businesses:
those which can achieve dramatic reductions in CO2 can realize a
profit by selling their unneeded permits to others.

British economist Michael Grubb, who has also been an active
proponent of wind and other renewable energy technologies over the
years, urged consideration of emissions trading in a major paper
written in 1990, the report said, arguing that other approaches to
emissions reduction are politically untenable.

Prospects for a world agreement which would include the developing
countries, the article said, are not bright, as there is likely to
be considerable controversy over initial allocations.

The developing nations, which today produce far fewer emissions per
capita than the industrial countries, are unlikely to agree to any
system which uses current emissions as a starting point for
reductions.  And by the same token, industrial nations are unlikely
to agree to a major shift which would provide more allowances to
the poor countries, so that they reap a windfall in funds from the
sale of permits.

However, it added, an agreement among industrial countries which
bypasses questions of "North-South" equity remains a possibility.

===============================

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*******************************************************************
Tom Gray                                 EcoNet/PeaceNet: tgray@igc
Internet/Bitnet: tgray@igc.apc.org    UUCP: uunet!pyramid!cdp!tgray