Climate change expert seeks expansion of carbon trading - International Herald Tribune

Climate change expert seeks expansion of carbon trading - International Herald Tribune: "Climate change expert seeks expansion of carbon trading
By James Kanter and Alan Cowell
Published: January 25, 2007

DAVOS, Switzerland: The foremost European expert on climate change, Nicholas Stern, called Thursday for a huge expansion of carbon trading with China and India, and described 2007 as a 'year of opportunity' to step up efforts to tackle global warming.

Under an existing program, businesses in wealthier countries in Europe and Japan already are helping pay to reduce pollution in poorer ones as a way of staying within government limits for emitting climate-changing gases like carbon dioxide under the Kyoto Protocol.

Stern, who is the chief economist for the British government and an author of an influential report on climate change, said during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the program must 'be capable of operating on a much bigger scale than it does at the moment.' Stern said he saw 'a wonderful market opportunity' and that trade under the program could be raised to $30 billion a year from the current level of about $1 billion...."