Where we need to be

There will need to be some way to price carbon emissions on a global scale in a way that is equitable and not unreasonably harmful to the world's poor. This will require all of the world's major polluters to adopt some sort of carbon pricing system. There has been a lot of hesitation from some of the world's largest polluters, however, there is reason to hope due to the United States' Environmental Protection Agency declaration of CO2 as a pollutant as a result of its contribution to climate change. There is also reason to get excited about the climate summit that will take place in Copenhagen this year, where this issue is going to be at the center of the discussions.

Once each major greenhouse gas polluter has a system in place, there will need to be a way to make carbon trading systems interoperable so that there is way to convert from one unit of CO2 emissions in one country and that in another. This has been a major concern of the various systems being implemented all over the world and is something that has been a major roadblock so far.