In spite of the global economic slowdown, the market for trading carbon dioxide grew by 68 percent last year compared with the previous year.
The value of the market remained roughly unchanged after carbon prices fell by nearly 50 percent last year, according to PointCarbon. But the market itself rose to 8.2 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, mainly because of an increase in trading activity in Europe.
The global carbon market reached $136 billion in 2009, up from $133 billion in 2008 and only $58 million in 2007.
The European Union’s emissions trading scheme accounted for the largest share of carbon trading, with nearly 70 percent of the global market. It was followed by the Kyoto-set up Clean Development Mechanism and the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, the first mandatory cap-and-trade system in the United States.
