The Sydney Futures Exchange is setting up a market in Australia in carbon sequestration credits, or units of carbon dioxide that have been absorbed by trees. Industries will be able to buy the credits and use them to offset carbon emissions from the production of electricity, steel, aluminum, and other products. The global market, to launch in mid-2000, will be the first of its kind and is expected to trade $5 billion annually. Tokyo Electric Power is already looking to enter the market by investing in up to 40,000 hectares of Australian forests. The Sydney Futures Exchange also plans to set up a market in greenhouse gas emissions once the finishing touches are put on the Kyoto climate change agreement of 1997.
