🏭 Did you know that 26% of global emissions are covered by an emission trading system (ETS)?

🏛️ ETSs might well be one of the most effective climate policy humanity ever invented. I was pleasantly surprised to see that - despite the global headwinds for climate - ETSs are increasing in size and impact.

📊 Just this year, 3 new ETSs came online (Japan, India, and Vietnam) bringing the total to 41 covering 63% of the world’s GDP, with another 16 under development or in consideration.

💵 These ETSs generated record revenue of $79b in 2025, up from $70b the previous year, with a lot of this carbon revenue being reinvested straight into the green transition.

🌲 So what about carbon removals? 26 of 41 ETSs already allow for carbon credits to be used. But only one - New Zealand - credits removals directly with allowances, mostly afforestation.

🏆 Permanent removals are not yet integrated anywhere, with the UK (2029) and EU (2031) likely first in line.

🌍 I found it very motivating to see these numbers and the continued commitment to and interest in ETSs by countries all over the world.

🇨🇳 In particular, I got my eyes on China. It is still a fairly maturing ETS, but given its sheer size (16% of global emissions) and China’s ambition to reach peak emissions before 2030, I expect there will be plenty of good news over the coming years.

📄 Highly recommend giving this year’s ICAP Status Report 2026 a skim/read - plenty of golden nuggets in there: https://lnkd.in/ek4PUCjy

👀 What ETS are you keeping your eyes on, and will we see removals integrated more broadly?

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