The Kyoto Protocols called upon 38 industrialised countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 to levels that are 5.2 per cent lower than those of 1990.

This led to the rise of carbon trading markets, where carbon is given a value and traded like stocks.

Polluting nations can buy “credits” from nations that do not pollute as much, allowing the richer companies and governments to continue polluting.

On the other hand, companies and governments in industrial countries have a financial incentive to pollute less.

So is carbon trading a win-win situation, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and helping poorer countries make money by selling their credits? Or is the system being exploited – to the detriment of the environment?

On Monday we speak with Daphne Wysham, a critic of the trading scheme and founder of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network in Washington, Joseph Romm, an advocate of the “cap-and-trade” system who runs the influential policy blog, Climate Progress, in Washington, and Patrick Birley, the chief executive of the European Climate Exchange.

Watch part two

source: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2010/03/201032964019732375.html