Patent ID: 7343341

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of promoting the reduction of emissions, comprising: registering participants voluntarily with an established entity; establishing an emission reduction schedule for a set future period of time, including several years, for each registered participant that produces emissions based on emissions information over previous years provided by each registered participant establishing tradable financial instruments, including emission allowances, emission offsets, and credits; issuing tradable emission allowances to each registered participant based on the established reduction schedule; collecting emissions data for each registered participant during each year of that future period of time; comparing the collected emissions data with the corresponding data in the established reduction schedule for each registered participant for each year of that period of time; based on the comparing step, determining debits or credits for each registered participant for each year of that period of time; and based on the determining step, if the registered participant's yearly emissions exceed the corresponding data in the established reduction schedule, debiting each registered participant a quantity of tradable financial instruments, thereby penalizing the registered participant, wherein the registered participant is required to purchase tradable financial instruments to achieve compliance with the reduction schedule; and based on the determining step, if the registered participant's yearly emissions are below the corresponding data in the established reduction schedule, crediting each registered participant a quantity of tradable financial instruments thereby rewarding the registered participant, wherein the registered participant can trade or bank those tradable financial instruments.