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BRUSSELS The European Commission will call on the United States to create a trans-Atlantic system of carbon trading to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to press for the establishment of similar markets in developed countries, according to a draft document seen Friday by The International Herald Tribune.
Under President Obama, the United States is entering a period of debate over whether to adopt such market-based systems or use a more straightforward tax to limit planet-warming gases from industry.
Europe created the largest single market for trading carbon permits in 2005. Since then, Australia and some American states have begun initiatives. But the European system has come under fire for doing too little to stop pollution and for creating windfall profits for some industries that it was intended to target, like coal-burning utilities.
European officials have insisted that their emissions trading system has become more effective after a pilot phase from 2005 to 2007, and they have put in place measures aimed at preventing lobbying by governments and industry from diluting its effectiveness.
The document, which was circulating Friday, and which could change over the weekend, describes the stance of European officials as they prepare for talks in Copenhagen in December on a climate treaty to take the place of the Kyoto protocol. The first phase of the Kyoto treaty expires in 2012.
A centerpiece of the commissions proposals is
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