Linking carbon markets: South Korea's upcoming ETS and the potential for linkage with the EU ETS

摘要

Many countries and regions have implemented emissions trading schemes (ETSs) over the past decade in an effort to curb their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. South Korea, one of the world's top GHG emitting countries, plans to join this group. This article explores the main features of the South Korean ETS, scheduled to start in January 2015, as well as the potential to link it with the European Union ETS (EU ETS). As governments in many different parts of the world are announcing the introduction of ETSs, there is a growing opportunity to link the various schemes and make progress towards a global carbon market through a bottom-up approach.