How others are doing it

Three other markets are run by the U.N. agency responsible for the Kyoto Protocol. ‰ One lets firms and governments in developed countries invest in emissions-saving projects in developing nations. The buyers, in effect, acquire credits that let them continue to pollute; selling countries, in theory, get sustainable development, and jobs. This “Clean Development Mechanism” has run into snags. Getting projects approved is cumbersome. Only one has been certified, with another 32 getting close. And most of the proposed investments are in projects such as smokestack scrubbers or methane flares at dumps, which cut emissions but create little development. The current price of these credits is $7 to $9 a tonne, but they’re forecast to jump dramatically as more buyers and sellers enter the market. Getting this system sorted out — mainly by streamlining regulations and hiring far more people to assess and certify projects — is one of the main aims of the major U.N. meeting of Kyoto participants to be held in Montreal at the end of the month. ‰ The second market, known as Joint Implementation, allows companies in developed countries to buy credits from emissions-reducing projects in other developed countries. Little has happened in this market because most potential buyers and sellers are in Europe and operate under the continent’s own system. But it’s believed to have potential. ‰ The third market is raising eyebrows: It will let nations that are over their Kyoto targets buy credits from those under. The main sellers will be Russia, Ukraine and other members of the former Soviet Union. Their emissions plummeted in the early 1990s, when the Soviet empire collapsed and the economy tanked. They remain hundreds of millions of tonnes below their 1990 levels. They’ll be allowed to sell credits totalling the difference between their current emissions and Kyoto targets. These credits are politically tricky for buying nations since they might actually increase global emissions. For that reason, they’re known as “hot air.”