Europe Wants U.S. to Join Carbon Trading Market

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our or .

| Sourced From |

BRUSSELS — The European Commission will call on the United States to create a trans-Atlantic system of carbon trading to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to press for the establishment of similar markets in developed countries, according to a draft document seen Friday by The International Herald Tribune.

Under President Obama, the United States is entering a period of debate over whether to adopt such market-based systems or use a more straightforward tax to limit planet-warming gases from industry.

Europe created the largest single market for trading carbon permits in 2005. Since then, Australia and some American states have begun initiatives. But the European system has come under fire for doing too little to stop pollution and for creating windfall profits for some industries that it was intended to target, like coal-burning utilities.

European officials have insisted that their emissions trading system has become more effective after a pilot phase from 2005 to 2007, and they have put in place measures aimed at preventing lobbying by governments and industry from diluting its effectiveness.

The document, which was circulating Friday, and which could change over the weekend, describes the stance of European officials as they prepare for talks in Copenhagen in December on a climate treaty to take the place of the Kyoto protocol. The first phase of the Kyoto treaty expires in 2012.

A centerpiece of the commission’s proposals is “strategic bilateral partnerships with the United States, to create a trans-Atlantic carbon market,” according to the document.

The proposals also envision member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forming a single carbon market by 2015.

Shipping and aviation, industries that were not part of the earlier Kyoto climate treaty, should be included in any successor treaty, according to the European proposals.

The proposals also seek ways of helping developing nations cut emissions and finance ways of adapting to climate change. One suggestion is that rich nations raise billions of euros each year for the developing world through a levy on air and ship transportation, or by using part of the proceeds from the sales of pollution permits by governments.

Past efforts at coordinated global action on climate change have been halted mostly because the United States has insisted on emissions limits for countries like India and China. Those countries resisted mandatory rules, saying they had the right to industrialize and improve standards of living.

Some businesses that regard climate regulation favorably because it could promote new investment opportunities welcomed the European initiative.

Adam Nathan, a spokesman for the Carbon Markets and Investors Association, praised “the central role for the carbon market set out by the commission.” But he warned that support from the United States and other nations was critical.

“Cooperation with the Obama administration must focus on leveraging comparable action from the United States and supporting developing countries in their efforts,” Mr. Nathan said.