Global trade in carbon emissions surged to a new high in 2007, reaching 60 billion dollars in value, according to a study released Tuesday, according to dpa. Oslo-based analysis group Point Carbon said the volume of carbon emissions (CO2e) trading increased 64 per cent in 2007 to 2.7 billion tons, compared to 1.6 billion tons in 2006. For 2008, the group estimated the market to be worth 92 billion dollars at current prices, with a volume of 4.2 billion tons. The survey was released in connection with a three-day conference that opened in Denmark where business leaders, government officials and others discussed carbon emissions trading, not the least against the backdrop of the European Union emission trading system introduced 2005. The system allows European companies to swap emission rights with emerging and poor nations. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that in 2007 shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore, told delegates that he supported a global emissions trading system as a means to reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gases. Findings in the Point Carbon survey that was based on some 3,700 replies suggested an overall belief that market prices on carbon emissions would rise. In 2010 carbon was expected to reach 37 dollars a ton, up 9 dollars on the price predicted a year ago and in 2020 would increase 15 dollars to 54 dollars a ton, Point Carbon said. More than two-thirds of the respondents said the carbon price was relevant to investment decisions, the survey said. There was also optimism about reaching a climate agreement for the post-2012 period when the current Kyoto Protocol expires, with 77 per cent of the respondents saying they expected "an agreement to be reached regardless of whether or not the US participates." Denmark was at the end of 2009 scheduled to host a UN climate conference on the matter.
