Disposition in the Carbon Market and Institutional Constraints

This paper investigates the impact of banking and submission constraints, set by the EU Emission Trading Scheme, on the efficiency of the carbon permits spot market using intra-daily data. My aim is to identify whether there is a Disposition effect in the spot market. I will examine a data set that includes spot prices for the First and Second Phases of the Scheme from 24 June 2005 to 07 August 2009. I find that the Disposition effect is significantly high at the beginning of each Phase and decreases close to the first compliance event. In the light of these results I propose a lifting of the ban on banking between Phases and an increased emissions information disclosure in order to increase the efficiency of the Scheme.