La naissance d'un nouveau marché :. Le système britannique de commerce d'allocations d'émissions de gaz à effet de serre (uk trading allowances scheme)

THE BIRTH OF A NEW MARKET : THE UK TRADING ALLOWANCES SCHEME FOR CO2 EMISSIONS If climate change seems now inevitable, the worst effects of climate change can be avoided if the world acts to reduce emissions, and, in due time, stabilize the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Economic instruments have been internationally recognized as the best way to find a response to climate change. Under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Community and its members States can agree to meet their commitments jointly. The UK Climate Change Program sets out the principles and the administrations? strategies for tackling climate change. In terms of costs and benefits, the UK Trading Permits Climate Change Scheme is one of the most performant schemes in Europe and probably in the world. This explains the genesis of the UK scheme and how it works. The legal mechanism of this scheme could be a guide and an example for an efficient European program against climate change. The UK scheme seeks to maintain competitiveness of the industries concerned. However, although in economic terms it seems to be an efficient combination of incentive subsidies with the allocative virtues of a market mechanism, it has considerable transaction costs, in particular costs of control, and its legal rules frequently are indeterminate. Yet, this need not be a disadvantage as it allows the system to evolve and to adapt itself to changes of circumstances and of the legal environment.