A green future.

The article discusses carbon-emissions trading. Market forces and the environment are not always in harmony, but a new venture, announced on September 7th, may help lessen the discord. The European Climate Exchange (ECX), formed in an agreement between the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), will offer European companies a place to trade emissions credits for greenhouse gases. Regulation has spurred the creation of the ECX. Next January, the European Union will put into effect new rules designed to curb carbon-dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. Companies in the EU's 25 member states will be allowed to emit a certain amount. If they go over, they can buy credits from companies that have stayed within their limits. The ECX plans to offer trading in emissions-credit futures by the end of this year, with cash products to follow soon afterwards. In anticipation of this scheme, forward trading has already begun, though not on the ECX. Nine European brokerage houses already facilitate over-the-counter trades. Evolution Markets, one such firm, estimates that the volume traded has risen from 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in January to 600,000 in July. The American market has not had Europe's regulatory shove: the United States, unlike Europe, did not sign the Kyoto agreement on climate change and is not forcing companies to limit emissions.