ABSTRACT
The globalisation and liberalisation of energy markets coincided with and no doubt inspired the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the world's first cross-national scheme of its kind, covering two billion tonnes of annual emissions. The EU assumed the mantle of authority and leadership on climate change due to its relative unity on the issue, strong political and public pressure, its desire for world leadership and for energy security. Kyoto may have embodied the US preference for market-based instruments and offsets, but the EU had been travelling in a similar direction for years. Kyoto was the perfect articulation of New Labour's view that considerations of justice and sustainable development converged upon those of economic prosperity. By bringing climate change and poverty together, two of the most important aspects of environmental policy and social policy were now coupled more strongly than at any time in the past.
