The Evolution of Carbon Markets: Design and Diffusion

Carbon markets are developing and expanding around the world, but how and to what extent is their design shaped by learning and interaction between them? How do these markets function and what is the role of design?

Carrying out a ground-breaking analysis of their design and diffusion, this book covers all the major carbon market systems and processes around the world: the EU, RGGI, California, Tokyo, New Zealand, Australia, China, South Korea and Kazakhstan. It offers a systematic, in-depth discussion and comparison of the key design features in these systems with expert contributors exploring how, and to what extent, these features have been shaped by central policy diffusion mechanisms and domestic politics.

By focussing on the specific design features of the instruments used, this volume makes important contributions to diffusion theory, highlighting how ETS diffusion processes more often have resulted in design divergence than convergence, and discussing the implications of this finding for the vision of linked systems in the post-Paris era. It will be of significant interest to a broad audience interested in the emergence, evolution, functioning and interaction of carbon markets.

Jørgen Wettestad is Research Professor at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, Norway. He has published several books and numerous articles on international and EU environmental policy, with particular attention to emissions trading. His most recent books are Rescuing EU Emissions Trading: The Climate Policy Flagship. Palgrave 2016 (together with Torbjørg Jevnaker) and EU Climate Policy: Industry, Policy Interaction and External Environment. Ashgate, 2013 (together with Elin L.Boasson). He has been a visiting scholar at IIASA, Austria, and the Institute for International Studies, Berkeley, CA. He has also led and participated in several EU funded projects, participated in numerous international research projects, and been Programme Director at the FNI for a long period. Wettestad serves regularly as peer reviewer for international journals and national research councils, and has been editorial board member of the journal Climate Policy since 2001.

Lars H. Gulbrandsen is a research professor and the deputy director at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, where he also served as director of the research programme on Global Environmental Governance and Law (2000-2016). His main research interests are within the fields of global environmental politics and international political economy, with a particular focus on climate and energy policy, forest and fisheries certification, private regulation and governance, and corporate social responsibility. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Oslo and an MSc from the London School of Economics, and has been a visiting scholar at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Gulbrandsen participates in several international research projects, serves regularly as peer reviewer for international journals and national research councils, and is editorial board member of the journal Global Environmental Politics.