By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will increase diplomatic efforts to help countries outside the bloc to launch carbon markets in the hope of fostering international trade of CO2 emissions, the bloc's climate policy chief said on Tuesday.
The EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS), which requires power plants and industries in Europe to pay for every metric ton of CO2 they emit, is the world's biggest carbon market by traded value, worth about 751 billion euros ($804.47 billion) last year.
EU climate policy chief Wopke Hoekstra said encouraging countries outside the EU to launch similar schemes should be central to Europe's efforts to address climate change in the coming years.
"We will embark on a significant effort to help out countries in the world that do have appetite for something that either looks like EU ETS, or might be slightly different in its design," Hoekstra told an event hosted by the think-tank Bruegel in Brussels.
"We will see more carbon markets and eventually we also need to connect those carbon markets," he said.
The European Commission plans to launch a taskforce offering to deploy staff to help launch carbon markets.
Outside the EU, China, California and Britain already have functioning carbon markets.
However, with differences between the schemes - in terms of CO2 price, design, or the sectors covered - little progress has been made towards linking them and allowing CO2 emissions to be traded between countries.
The EU has riled some countries with its plan to add an international dimension to its carbon pricing policies, by imposing a world-first carbon levy on imports of goods including steel and cement from 2026.
Brussels has said imports from countries with carbon pricing policies comparable to those of Europe can reduce their obligations under the levy - which the EU says is needed to put foreign producers on a level footing with local industries that must buy permits from the EU carbon market when they pollute.
Hoekstra said some of the "fuss" about the EU's carbon border levy (CBAM) was an attempt to put the EU on the defensive, but he said countries were preparing to adapt to the policy.
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