Emissions Trading in the European Union

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject Business economics - Trade and Distribution, grade: 1,3, BSP Business School Berlin (form. Potsdam), language: English, abstract: Climate change is a global problem. According to the majority opinion of renowned experts, humans are to blame for this development. In recent years, industrialization has caused the levels of greenhouse gases in the earths atmosphere to rise rapidly. The consequences are clearly noticeable in our daily lives, such as rising average temperatures or more frequent extreme weather events. Recent events, such as the diesel scandal, have fueled discussions about the CO2 tax as a more effective measure to deal with climate change. In addition, the diesel scandal showed how the environment is being negligently treated in favor of profit. This has led me to critically analyze emissions trading as one of the current environmental policy measures to reduce greenhouse gases. This is because it is seen in the EU as a particularly powerful tool for achieving climate targets. However, it often also serves as a basis for argumentation against further measures for the environment by companies. The question that occurs to me is what opportunities and risks could arise for Germany from emissions trading. In order to be able to answer this question, it is first necessary to give an initial overview of the topic. It will be explained which functions emissions trading should fulfill and what differences there are between global emissions trading and that in the EU. I then present the scientific findings on emissions and emissions trading to date. Based on the research and the knowledge gained from it, I am able to answer the key question. Finally, my conclusion follows.