The Kyoto Protocol has generated a global market for carbon emissions (also known as “emissions trading” or “cap and trade”) though the creation of certain flexibilities designed to help the 40 countries named in Annex 1 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meet their obligations. Negotiations ahead of climate change talks in Mexico in 2010 have aimed to consolidate and amplify carbon markets.

Have carbon markets been effective in diminishing greenhouse gas emissions? Can we leave the problem of finding a solution to climate change in the hands of the market? Is it possible to “regulate” carbon markets so they might be effective? Should market mechanisms be expanded? What are the dangers of carbon markets?

This working group intends to analyze, reflect on, and elaborate proposals for confronting the dangers of carbon markets going forward.

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