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International 2023 carbon trading incomes grew to $74 bln, report states

Global incomes from the sale of carbon allows in emissions trading systems (ETS) grew to a record $74 billion last year, as governments progressively turn to such schemes to assist take on worldwide warming, a report showed on Wednesday.

The $74 billion raised from license auctions in 2023 was up from $64 billion in 2022.

Jurisdictions making up 58% of global gdp are now using an ETS, according to the intergovernmental online forum International Carbon Action Collaboration's (ICAP) annual emissions trading status report.

Presently, 36 such systems are in place, compared to 28 last year and another 22 ETS are under development or consideration, including in Argentina, Brazil, India, Turkey and Vietnam.

Emissions trading is a tested policy tool which can cut emissions much faster, and at a lower cost, than other alternatives. The uptake of emissions trading recorded by this year's report is motivating, as is the innovations and fresh believing some jurisdictions are giving the table to make it work for their regional circumstances, stated Stefano De Clara, head of the ICAP Secretariat.

Under an ETS, federal governments set a slowly decreasing cap on the amount of emissions that a sector, or group of sectors, can produce. They produce carbon authorizations for those emissions, which are auctioned, and business must purchase one for each tonne of CO2 they emit.

Higher carbon license rates in two of the schemes in specific - the European Union's ETS and its British equivalent - helped to increase revenues in 2015, as well as more auctions of permits to distribute them amongst industry, the report stated.

The EU ETS is the most established plan on the planet and the biggest in regards to trading volume and value. Revenues raised from it last year amounted to $47.1 billion last year.

(source: Reuters)