Powerisk asks if the carbon market is behaving the way governments expected. There is no doubt that companies are reducing carbon emissions, this is the very nature of the market. There is also no doubt that it is hurting as prices have risen significantly higher than Europe and the world had predicted. This bodes well for clean air technology, and its development and for the future under Kyoto. Where the market has broken down is the governments decision to base the original years for measuring carbon emissions in the early 1990s when gas was the major fuel source in power generation. Where the market has broken down is when the cost of administration and the market rise in costs is passed directly to the customers. At the moment all the costs of this market are being passed to consumers, the price rises seen by EdF PowerGen and Centrica are rising, and this is because the fundamental costs have risen and they are within the licence arrangements allowed to put prices up as a result. It does seem a little unfair that the companies who can do most to alleviate carbon emissions and costs are not financially incentivised to do so. read more ...