Carbon trading -- with its mix of free-market principles and government regulation -- holds global appeal as a way for businesses to reduce emissions. But lack of a global market for carbon trade and questions over surveillance and accounting for pollution offsets raises questions about its viability.
The factors complicating accurate carbon-trading reportage begins with the "product" -- in this case the absence of an invisible gas. Adding to the intangibility is the crediting of businesses for projected reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
"They are a tricky beast -- an environmental commodity is not a natural private good, like a tube of toothpaste or a haircut," said Michael Gillenwater, dean of the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, in an interview earlier this year.
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