develop a mechanism for trading emissions permits. The IPE had positioned itself to take up this challenge, as a business development team had already undertaken initial research into the possibilities of emission permit trading.Legislation is key for the establishment of a market, as without strictly enforced rules CO2 producers will have no incentive to trade permits. The IPE calls for the UK government to take the lead within Europe by introducing legislation initially in the UK, and lobbying for wider take up within the EU.Substantial cuts in global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the leading greenhouse gas implicated in climate change, can be achieved over the next 30 years through a variety of technology and policy options at little or no increase in cost over business as usual, according to Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Global energy use is a major contributor to the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to the report, 385 EJ [exajoules; one exajoule is equal to 45 million tons of coal or 170 million barrels of oil] of energy were consumed worldwide in 1990, resulting in the release of six billion tons of carbon [22 billion tons of carbon dioxide] into the atmosphere. Added the report, "Future energy demand is anticipated to continue to grow, at least through the first half of the next century. The IPCC . . . projects that without policy intervention, there could be significant growth in emissions from the industrial, transportation, and commercial/residential buildings sectors."Many combinations of the options identified in this assessment could reduce global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels from about [22 billion tons] to about [15 billion tons] by 2050, and to about [seven billion tons] by 2100 . . .Higher energy efficiency is underscored for achieving deep reductions in CO2 emissions, for increasing the flexibility of supply side combinations, and for reducin...
