ABSTRACT
Global climate change is evolving. The regulation of greenhouse gas emissions is still in the formative stage, and the potential for firms new to the market is high. Most companies are still on an evolving learning curve. Individual companies are also active in defining their positions in the emissions trading market. A central element to the Kyoto Protocol and many other efforts to facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the use of emission trading as a means of achieving a cost-effective solution. In short, GHGs are global pollutants, and the effect is not restricted to a regional or “downwind” area. Nor will the response to controls be immediate, given GHG’s persistence in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. State actions include that more than 20 states have considered or passed legislation related to GHGs. Despite all the heated rhetoric that flies around the global warming issue, business does take it seriously.
