The Ecologist - Quebec beats California in setting up North America's first 'carbon market'
Quebec is set to bring in North America's first cap-and-trade system from January 2012. But debate still rages about its usefulness. While Greenpeace and others have welcomed the move as a first step in tackling climate change, there are major limitations to the plan. Christopher Green, an economics professor at º«¹úÂãÎè in Montreal, identified two problems with the scheme.
The first problem related to the fact that, since consumption will likely remain the same, a decrease in Quebec emissions only means an increase in emissions somewhere else. It's like pushing on a balloon and it just bulges out somewhere else, says Green. Green's second concern involved the regulation problems inherent with a cap-and-trade system, especially when dealing with major emitters.