Carbon trading will survive the credit crunch

Given the global economic downturn, one might expect participants at a carbon trading conference to be downbeat.

After all, an alarming 60% of respondents to a recent carbon market survey, all of whom work within companies with carbon trading operations, report having scaled back, delayed or cancelled investments in projects as a consequence of the slowdown. The survey was conducted by Point Carbon, a provider of market intelligence, news, analysis and advisory services, and the organisers of the Carbon Markets Insights 2009 conference in Copenhagen this week. The survey garnered 3,319 responses from people in 116 countries.

Illustrating how the downturn has resulted in real reductions in industrial activity, the respondents reported a reduced need,...