Carbon trading - the Chinese report card

In any case, using direct regulation, Western Europe reduced sulphur dioxide emissions in the 1990s much more than did the US with emissions-trading.

More fundamentally, the scheme was justified on the grounds that, without it, the offending greenhouse gases would have been produced because "China has no laws to prohibit or limit these emissions". Indeed it hadn't, and nor has it legislated to do so subsequently.

With the CDM windfall under their belts, I can just see Chinese legislators (sic) falling over themselves to pass tough new laws on HFC23 emissions.

What lessons for us?

1. Don't let any scheme that lacks cast-iron verification see the light of day - ever.
2. Don't build a national scheme or agree to any international one that rewards governments for easing up on the regulation pedal.
3. Don't be surprised if undue reliance on market forces to fix our environmental woes will enrich a lot of middlemen, allow our leaders to avoid politically tougher but more direct and effective policy options, and not deliver the emissions reductions that are promised.