The World Wildlife Fund claims the EU Trading Scheme “would fail because an over-allocation of permits had reduced their value and allowed companies to buy the right to produce extra emissions at very little cost”.

Australia opened its first carbon trading exchange under the voluntary scheme, with an initial carbon price set at A$8.50 (US$7.50) per tonne.

A personal carbon trading scheme is being considered by the UK government. A pilot project is set to roll out in November, which allows participants to buy and sell their carbon dioxide use with other users.

Stéphane Dion is poised to unveil a carbon-tax scheme and attempt to neutralize any political damage by offering corresponding personal income tax cuts of between $10-billion and $13-billion to working Canadians, senior Liberal sources say.

The Liberal Leader wants this major environmental policy to be the centrepiece of the party’s election campaign platform, according to the sources, and is anxious to reveal it this summer to give Canadians a chance to digest the idea before a federal election.

Wall Street is gearing up for likely cap-and-trade legislation in the United States that could create a carbon market several times larger than in Europe