KfW/ZEW CO2 Panel: Vermeiden oder kaufen - Deutsche Unternehmen im Emissionshandel
Refereed Journal // 2010The European Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) is the first large-scale and inter-regional trading scheme for greenhouse gas emissions. It is seen as the central instrument of European climate policy. After a first testing-phase (2005-2007), the second trading period of the EU-ETS had started in 2008, with stronger incentives for investment in low-carbon technologies and carbon dioxide abatement. However, there is hardly any evidence how emissions trading fares in practice. The KfW/ZEW CO2 Barometer shows that trading of emission permits is actively used by 75 percent of German companies, but the price-signals that stem from the EU-ETS were relatively weak so far - too weak to set strong incentives for carbon dioxide emission reductions on the company-level. Also in the case of the ‘clean development mechanism’ (CDM) which was introduced to promote emission reductions in developing counties, there is need for further development.