Carbon Cap and Trade Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Carbon Cap and Trade - Research Paper ExampleWatch CO2Now.org, the annual trend of CO2 emission has been on the rise since 1959 when the amount of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere was 315.97 ppm. In 2014, the amount had spiraled to 398.55 ppm. As such many countries have joined in the race to reduce the sum up of carbon emission into the atmosphere by enacting environmental policies aimed at cutting down the volume of CO2 released into the atmosphere through human activities and oblige to the Kyoto Protocol. Having gone(a) through an introduction to the state of global CO2 emission, it is prudent to look at policies countries atomic number 18 implementing to reduce the rate of CO2 emission into the atmosphere. This paper focuses on Carbon Cap and Trade as a means of reducing the emissions of CO2 through human activities.Cap and trade refers to an environmental policy tool that achieves its mission by imposing mandatory cap on carbon emissions. According to this mechanism, a regulato ry body, for example, the federal government, device and puts a cap on the acceptable volumes of emission of a pollutant (CO2) for specified polluters such as manufacturing companies. The overall amount of permissible emissions under the cap is apportioned into single permits. Emission permits are permits that give polluters the right to emit certain ton of CO2 into the atmosphere. Each permit gives the authority to emit a given volume of the pollutant. These permits are consequently distributed to polluters covered by the program. The cap specifies the maximum amount of tons of carbon that a polluter is allowed to emit. The cap limits the number of permits that can be issued to polluters, thus reservation the permits financially valuable items that can be bought and sold in an open market. Consequently, companies that are capable of lowering their emissions at cheaply can sell their senseless permits to companies with high cost of reducing emissions. This approach offers compani es the freedom to choose how to meet their emission targets.However, market