UN Conference on Trade and Development/Earth Council Institute: Carbon Market Program

THE UNITED NATIONS Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)/Earth Council Carbon Market Program (CMP) started in 1991 as the UNCTAD Emissions Trading Project and has opened the way for a collaboration between governments and the private sector in the development of a global carbon market. The program aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is targeted primarily to economies in transition and third world countries. An emission trading system aims to control pollution by providing economic incentives for the reduction of polluting emissions. A central authority establishes a limit on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Companies or other groups that release polluting emissions have to hold an equivalent number of credits or allowances, which represent the right to emit a specific ...