The international carbon credit market involves carbon credit buyers from the public and private sectors in Europe, Japan, Canada and New Zealand buying carbon credits from sellers in developing countries and economies in transition.

In 2005 the regulatory requirements for emission reductions in the EU‐ETS scheme came in to force. The over 10,000 installations in the energy and industrial sectors are collectively responsible for close to half of the EU’s emissions of CO2 and 40% of its total GHG emissions. They represent a sizeable and growing demand for carbon credits.

Failure to meet these regulatory requirements will result in fines of EUR 100 per tCO2e in the second implementation phase of the EU‐ETS (2008 – 2012), increased from EUR 40 per tCO2e in the first implementation phase (2005 – 2007).