European Union Emissions Trading System
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European Union Emissions Trading System
The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in a nutshell:
- requires polluters to pay for their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
- launched in 2005, it is the world’s first carbon market and among the largest ones globally;
- helps bring overall EU emissions down while generating revenues to finance the green transition;
- covers emissions from the electricity and heat generation, industrial manufacturing and aviation sectors - which account for roughly 40% of total GHG emissions in the EU;
- started covering emissions from maritime transport in 2024;
- operates in all EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and is linked to the Swiss ETS (since 2020).
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