Markets And Carbon Cap And Trade

Cracking good talk on NPR's Fresh Air on the carbon Cap and Trade markets.

Host Terry Gross talks with journalist Mark Schapiro who does a really excellent job of explaining what a cap and trade is, how it works and the derivative markets it has spawned.

Top Questions: ....would you explain what the market is..and what people are actually buying and selling...

... explain a little more how investors make money out of the carbon trading..

The similarity between the housing derivatives and carbon derivatives are eerily similar and unnerving....carbon offsets from different projects with different standards of reliabilty in terms of their future ability to actually reduce emissions being grouped into say one million ton bundles and sold on the derivatives markets.

I am not knowledgeable enough to explain all that too well over here...so go and listen or download here.

At least for the European markets where carbon cap and trade has been going on for some time the actual amount of emissions reductions from cap and trade schemes has been below expectations according to Mr Schapiro.