ABSTRACT
The EU ETS is the centrepiece in Europe’s climate policy architecture and the largest cap-and-trade system in the world. After having failed to introduce a union-wide carbon tax during the 1990s, the European Commission presented a green paper in 2000 that proposed the use of emissions trading. Launched in January 2005, the EU ETS established a uniform carbon price for specific heavy-industry activities in all EU member states. It covers CO2 emissions from over 10,000 installations, including power and heat generators, oil refineries and factories for ferrous metals, cement, lime, glass and ceramic materials, and pulp and paper. Together, the covered sources account for roughly 40 per cent of total EU GHG emissions.
