Europe’s carbon trading spent $287 billion with almost zero emissions reduction.

Evidence

26 According to UBS Investment Research, the ETS system has cost 287 billion till 2011 with "almost zero impact" on overall emissions in the European Union, and the money could have resulted in over 40 percent reduction if used in a targeted way, e.g., to upgrade power plants (Maher, "Europe's 287 Billion Carbon Waste”). — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 2332

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: the ETS as a case study in how market-based environmentalism produces enormous rents for polluters while achieving no measurable goal.