UK Emissions Policy Options
October 2008
This paper, authored by Liz Bossley, CEO of the Consilience
Energy Advisory Group Ltd, sets the context and describes the
opportunities for London arising from market developments in
emissions trading and the related emerging climate markets. In this
report, the current stages of development of the international
Kyoto-based emissions market, the mandatory regional and national
markets around the world, and the international voluntary market,
are reviewed. An assessment is made of the contribution of the
different asset classes of allowances that are trading in the
market, their relative values and how they are linked. The
transaction log and registry system that controls the international
transfer of emissions allowances is described, and a method
proposed whereby the UK registry could be adapted to overcome the
limitations of this system to facilitate international trade
conducted through the UK. Finally, the paper looks ahead to
consider the range of likely outcomes of the negotiations on a new
Kyoto deal post-2012 and the UK’s role in these discussions and
suggests a framework whereby complementary policies of the Greater
London Authority and the City of London could be coordinated with
UK national climate change policy.
Download UK Emissions Policy Options
paper (380kb)
Capital Market Competitiveness and Regulation
March 2008
Concerns about alleged disparities in the effective enforcement
of securities regulation across different national regimes has
recently been used to question international initiatives on mutual
recognition. In December 2007, Professor John Coffee, Professor of
Law at Columbia University, published an article “Law and the
Market: the Impact of Enforcement” in the Pennsylvania Law Review
which suggested that such disparities were strong and greater
enforcement intensity in the US lowers the cost of capital
there. The City of London commissioned Professor Eilis
Ferran, Professor of Securities Law at Cambridge University, to
explore the issues raised by Professor Coffee.
Professor Ferran’s paper assesses Professor Coffee’s work and
suggests a misunderstanding about the UK system. The paper
recommends that mutual recognition of cross border securities
regulation be based on equivalence of outcome and not equivalence
of regulatory approach.
Download Capital
Market paper (370kb)