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The article discusses Europe's Emissions Trading System (ETS) cap-and-trade scheme as of 2013, with information on the programme's aim of reducing carbon emissions in the European Union (EU). Topics include the surplus of carbon permits due to low levels of demand, attempts of the European Commission to postpone introduction of carbon allowances until demand increases, and the implications of ETS implementation issues for other governments with similar programmes.

The article looks at the possibility that markets are overlooking the risk of unburnable carbon, or the parts of fossil fuel companies' reserves that must stay in the the ground. Topics include the amount of carbon that can be burned without causing more than two degrees of global warming, the increasing share of total energy output from state-owned energy companies, and the possibility that the European Union's emissions trading system might collapse.