Papers and Reports

Including carbon dioxide removals (CDR) in emissions trading systems (ETSs) is gaining policy attention. This Thematic Brief surveys current practices across selected ETSs and compiles comparative tables on: eligibility and geography, relationship to ETS scope, legal tender, and quantitative limits; and reversal/permanence provisions (liability, buffer pools, discounting, monitoring periods, tonne‑year variants).

Emissions trading systems (ETSs) play an important part in many jurisdictions’ mitigation strategies, but their role and design are likely to change over the decades to come. Achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century or soon thereafter is essential to keep global temperatures at safe levels. Consequently, multiple jurisdictions have adopted climate neutrality targets by around mid-century . ETSs can play a central role in this process and have …

This report delves deep into the power sector value chain dynamics, demonstrating how well-designed carbon pricing instruments can be instrumental in helping countries reach their decarbonization goals. Focusing on how decisions are made in diverse power sector models in several developing countries, this report establishes that the CPI must be carefully positioned at the right regulation point in the power sector’s value chain—rather than merely …

This paper explores how the Article 6.2 rules agreed at COP26 could be applied to an international link of two ETSs, including how to account for the changes in emissions, addressing the challenges in determining when changes in emissions occur within an ETS, and options to generate finance for adaptation and “net” mitigation from the link.

This report explores how CCS is treated in different ETSs around the world; if and how ETSs could play a role in incentivizing the development and deployment of CCS applications; and the challenges and opportunities in developing the required regulation in this context.

As market-based instruments, emissions trading systems are inherently flexible, as entities can decide to reduce their own emissions or buy emissions allowances from the market. Carbon offsets (or simply ‘offsets’) are a tool to further increase flexibility in reaching climate targets under ETSs, as they offer sectoral and geographical flexibility for jurisdictions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions outside of the scope of their ETS. This report …

Benchmarking can protect against carbon leakage while setting incentives to reduce emissions, but their design entails complex trade-offs. This paper explores benchmark-based industrial allocation design and experiences, using insights from existing ETSs, and their implications for abatement and low-carbon investment incentives.

Given factors such as constraints in free allocation policy for some ETS jurisdictions, other ways of addressing concerns about carbon leakage and competitiveness are likely to continue attracting interest, and these approaches may increasingly focus on cross-border trade. California and New Zealand offer practical experiences with such policies that may be instructive for other jurisdictions navigating border-related climate measures.

An overview of the steps that jurisdictions in Latin America have taken to plan, design and implement carbon pricing. Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

This paper seeks to understand the challenges that net zero emission targets could present for the operation of emissions trading systems (ETSs) and develops a series of models for the possible interactions between ETSs and removal units from negative emissions technologies (NETs).