The world carbon trading emissions market expanded to nearly $21.5 billion in the first nine months of 2006, up from about $11 billion for all of 2005, the World Bank reported today.
Trade volume from January to September was one billion tonnes, up from 716.6 million tonnes in the whole of 2005, according to the State of the Carbon Market 2006- a report co-released with the International Emissions Trading Association.
The European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme accounted for nearly $19 billion of the entire market, while the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project accounted for some $2.3 billion over the same period, compared with $2.65 billion for all of 2005.
The ETS was supposed to help combat climate change by capping heavy industry emissions of the most common greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, and forcing companies that exceed their caps to buy extra permits or cut emissions.
But last year's cap was about 100 million tonnes above actual carbon dioxide emissions - an excess that is expected to last through the market's first phase from 2005-07 and putting the scheme in limbo.