Independent: The global carbon market shrank by more than a third to EUR61bn (49bn) in 2012, the lowest level in its five-year history, fuelling concerns that key permit schemes designed to force down CO2 emissions are proving ineffective.
The amount that energy-intensive companies were forced to pay to compensate for their CO2 emissions tumbled by 36 per cent last year, as the value of the permits they need to buy once their carbon footprint hits a certain level dived from a worldwide average of EUR11.20...