Publications

In an ETS, covered entities may receive allowances for free from the government or buy them in auctions. Learn about how governments decide to distribute allowances, why allocation matters, the pros and cons of each allocation method, how free allocation can work, and the approaches taken by systems around the world.

Download in English, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish.

Check out the 2023 ICAP Status Report with the latest developments in emissions trading around the world.

The report includes:
🔹 comprehensive snapshot of the latest ETS developments
🔹 up-to-date factsheets on all systems
🔹 infographics that visualize the systems' characteristics
🔹 in-depth articles from policymakers and carbon market experts

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.

Check out the 2022 ICAP Status Report with the latest developments in emissions trading around the world.

The report includes:
- Insights from policymakers and carbon market experts
- Infographics
- Factsheets on each system in operation, under development and under consideration

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).

The updated Handbook has drawn from recent learnings gained over the last five years as jurisdictions around the world have gathered experience in designing, implementing and refining ETSs.