Proponents of greenhouse-gas-reduction efforts believe a global market for carbon credits rooted in such projects will one day generate significant income for Latin America and other developing regions. Their hopes were bolstered last month as U.S. and Brazilian stock exchanges held the first auctions in the Americas for carbon credits from developing nations. The auctions concerned credits called certified emissions reductions, or CERs, each of which represents a metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2). Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, developed-country governments and companies can obtain these credits from emissions-cutting projects in developing nations and count them toward their Kyoto limits. As of this month, such credits had been issued for 264 CDM projects, with India, Brazil... [Log in to read more]