The EU ETS: The first eight years

The European Union´s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the largest cap-and-trade program yet implemented which, in 2013, entered its ninth year of existence. During these eight years the EU ETS has seen a number of significant changes based on a succession of landmark legislative achievements. This paper provides a descriptive analysis of several aspects of the EU ETS from its inception through the end of the second phase in 2012, including both its achievements and challenges it has encountered. It discusses the historical and legal context in which the EU ETS developed and now operate ad it evaluates its performance so far by focusing on a number of key areas, including emissions, the development of permit prices, as well as offset use and prices. It also summarizes particularly salient aspects of the current short and medium-term policy debate.