ABSTRACT
The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has received increasing attention in the last few years both amongst scholars and policymakers. Many contributions have examined the legal and economic features underlying the functioning of the system (cf. Kruger et al. 2007; Convery et al. 2010; Ellerman 2010; OECD 2011), as well as the environmental effectiveness of its implementation (see, for example, Anderson and Di Maria 2011; Rogge et al. 2011; Calel and Dechezleprêtre 2012). The importance of these analyses goes beyond the EU ETS itself, since cap-and-trade regimes can be considered one of the most prominent examples of the application of market-based instruments to environmental issues. In fact, the EU ETS represents the tip of the iceberg vis-à-vis the existing cap-and-trade regimes within the climate change sector, whilst the emission trading regimes can be considered the most relevant application of market solutions to environmental problems.
