| The Kyoto Protocol came into force February 16, 2005. All Kyoto Parties are therefore, legally bound to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to the specified levels agreed to in the Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol allows for Parties to engage in emissions trading and enables them to meet their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in a cost-effective way. This innovative scheme has been proven to have been successful in the U.S. with the reduction of SO2 and NOx emissions and has recently been adopted in the European Union for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Presently, greenhouse gas emissions trading is seriously being considered in Canada.; This thesis compares and analyzes the European Union's directive on emissions trading with the Canadian Government's proposed approach, namely the Large Final Emitters System. Although emissions trading is a fairly new regulatory measure in European environmental law, it has been well received within the EU by both governments and private industry.; The European Union seems to be setting the stage for emissions trading schemes, both on a domestic and international level, leaving little room for other countries proposing similar schemes to deviate from the EU model, should they wish to link up with the EU scheme. Therefore, Canada would benefit from a close examination of the European Union model in order to determine the kind of emissions trading scheme that would work best in a Canadian emissions trading market. |
