Andreas Zumbach

Trading Certified Emission Reductions: Legal Aspects from a European and Swiss Perspective Andreas Zumbach

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), introducedthrough Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol, reflectsthe global dimension of Climate Change and is gainingmomentum. Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) arebeing traded all over Europe and, in addition, inmore and more other regions of the world too. Thestudy provides an overview on all legal aspects thatare to be considered when trading CERs: it startswith a description of the legal framework set by theKyoto Protocol and its succeeding accords, therebyillustrating the key issues for generation of CERsthrough CDM projects and it describes the presentlegal framework within the European Union as well aswithin Switzerland. It covers both regulatory issuessuch as compliance, linking of systems or voluntarymarkets as well as contractual aspects. It ends withan outline of policy making issues and an outlook onthe post-Kyoto period. The study is addressed toscholars, practitioners (such as CDM investors ormanagers of installations that have to comply with anEmission Trading Scheme) and policy makers.