---

European Council

The way in which the emissions trading system works is to set a cap on emissions for each individual country and it trades the permits within that system. Basically, the price is set through the cap. Progressively, we need to lower the cap so that the carbon price is transparent and the necessary incentive is given for business and industry to develop the science and technology to deal with it. Incidentally, I agree that we have to be careful in the way in which permits are traded, but the single most important thing is to be able, progressively over time, to reduce that cap. If we could get a situation whereby there were other regional emission trading systems and they at some point linked up, that would probably be the best route to a global carbon trading system, which is, in the end, what we need.