Resumen de Emissions Trading Systems: : A factor the mining industry cannot ignore
The predominant school of thought postulates that greenhouse gases [GHG] emitted by human and animal activities are warming the earth and causing changes in the global climate with increasingly severe human, economic and environmental impacts. Major GHG are carbon dioxide [CO[subscript]2 ], methane, nitrous oxide [N[subscript]2 O], and fluorinated gases, but the common shorthand for GHG is 'Carbon', such as in 'carbon emissions', 'carbon prices', 'carbon trading' etc.
Figure 2 below presents total anthropogenic GHG emissions [Gt CO[subscript]2 eq/yr] by economic sectors. The inner circle shows direct GHG emission shares [in % of total anthropogenic GHG emissions] of five economic sectors in 2010. The pull-out shows how indirect CO[subscript]2 emission shares [in % of total anthropogenic GHG emissions] from electricity and heat production are attributed to sectors of final energy use. 'Other Energy' refers to all GHG emission sources in the energy sector. The use of 'AFOLU' includes land-based CO[subscript]2 emissions from forest fires, peat fires and peat decay that approximate to net CO[subscript]2 flux from the Forestry and Other Land Use [FOLU] sub-sector. Emissions are converted into CO[subscript]2 -equivalents based on GWP100 6 from the IPCC Second Assessment Report.
The European Union launched the EU Emissions Trading System [EU ETS] in 2005 as the cornerstone of its strategy for cutting CO[subscript]2 emissions and other GHG. In contrast to traditional 'command and control' regulation, ETS aims at harnessing market forces to find the cheapest ways of reducing emissions. The EU ETS is now joined by EFTA countries with the exception of Switzerland that has its own carbon tax system.
