According to Point Carbon, an Oslo-based group of GHG analysts, the global carbon trade rose 80 percent last year to $60 billion, reports Reuters via the Guardian. Total trade resulted in a global reduction of 2.7 billion tons of carbon emissions.Nearly two-thirds of the trading volume occurred on the EU’s trading scheme, with 1.6 billion tons changing hands worth $41 billion. The UN’s Clean Development Mechanism was the other major trader with 947 million tons traded, worth $17.5 billion.
While the U.S. has not yet regulated its CO2 emissions, ten East Coast states plan to start trading next year while West and Midwest states plan to trade in regional markets. Banks, hedge funds, exchanges and the New York Mercantile Exchange became increasingly involved in voluntary trading last year. “This indicates a growing confidence that GHG emission trading will soon take off in the U.S., whether it is at the state or federal level,” Point Carbon said in a statement.
The voluntary carbon market has grown by 200 percent in 2006, according to recent research.