The Kyoto Protocol and the European Emissions Trading Scheme

At the beginning of 2005 the European Emissions Trading Scheme came into force for the 25 European Union members. The main objective of the scheme is to reduce the costs of abating greenhouse gas emissions as indicated in the Kyoto Protocol for the industrialized economies. The European Union is the first signatory of the Protocol to implement a fully market-based mechanism at the international level with the Emissions Trading Scheme. In this paper some general considerations on the European Emissions Trading Scheme are presented, with close attention to its implementation in Italy,