Cap-and-Trade is faltering in Europe, but the problem isn’t what you think it is
Cap-and-Trade is faltering in Europe, but the problem isn’t what you think it is / Michael Levi, Energy, Security, and Climate, 6/5/2013
The last couple weeks have seen a steady stream of news articles heralding the near-death of Europe’s cap-and-trade system. The basic story is straightforward. After the European Parliament declined to effectively tighten the emissions cap in the continent’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), prices for emissions permits plunged. Since high permit prices are required to drive serious energy-system transformation, many people have concluded that the ETS – and by association cap-and-trade more broadly – is bust…