No Carbon Copy While Canada and the US dithered, the European Union built a carbon-emissions trading mechanism.

The article offers information on the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) that was launched by the European Union (EU) in January 2005. It is reported that EU ETS is part of EU's effort to meet its Kyoto protocol of eight percent below 1990 levels by the reporting period. The EU ETS represents 80 percent of volumes by value traded in 2007 and dominates trading in the $62-billion global carbon market. The European Commission (EC) set compulsory caps on aggregate carbon dioxide emissions for the EU's 15 member countries in 2003. The cap-and-trade system is the combination of an absolute cap on emissions with the ability to trade allowances.