What is Emissions Trading?

Emissions Trading is a market based scheme for environmental improvement that allows parties to buy and sell permits for emissions or credits for reductions in emissions of certain pollutants.

Emissions Trading allows established emissions goals to be met in a most cost effective way by letting the market determine the lowest cost pollution abatement opportunities.  Emissions Trading Schemes would be considered to offer significant advantages over other regulatory approaches both in certainty of enironmental outcome and of the potential to minimise overall compliance costs.