Greenhouse gas concentrations are rapidly increasing and as a result, fundamental economic transitions are needed to limit global warming. This essential book examines the climate and energy policies of selected jurisdictions in Europe and East Asia that have vowed to become carbon neutral. Climate and Energy Law and Policy in the EU and East Asia provides important analyses of the respective laws and policies of the European Union, China and South Korea, and also touches upon Japan. Accounting for 43% of global CO2 emissions, these jurisdictions are critical for success. While nations share a common goal, the way policy priorities are set, and the ways in which the climate crisis is managed, differ tremendously. Chapters examine different law and policy approaches, constraints and resulting implications for cooperation, thereby contributing to the climate and energy transition discussions and offering much-needed policy insights. This timely book will be of great interest to researchers, students and scholars focusing on climate and energy law and policy. It will additionally be beneficial for policymakers and government officials seeking to understand changes in energy policy.

Emissions trading systems have come to the fore as the most economically efficient mechanisms that can be employed to bring about an optimal greenhouse gas reduction goal. Even though much has been written about the advantages and disadvantages of these systems, one element of crucial importance - emission allowance allocation - has not been considered in adequate depth until the present study. Such an analysis takes on increased importance as it seems likely that market-based auctioning will become the default allocation method throughout the EU under a proposed amendment to the Emissions Trading System (ETS) established by Directive 2003/87/EC. Taking a law and economics approach - that is, using a combined perspective of industrial economics and legal analysis - this important book examines the potential for anticompetitive distortion that may result from auctioning emission allowances. Among the issues investigated in depth are the following: * whether the current setup of the EU ETS fosters allocative efficiency or whether this allocative efficiency is hindered by legal impediments or constraints; * whether EU competition law can serve to remedy anticompetitive effects stemming from Member State actions taken pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC; * which allocation formats are most desirable from an allocative efficiency and environmental effectiveness point of view; * the importance of initial allocation and adjustment of out-of-equilibrium situations under the amended ETS; * whether auctioning allowances serves the attainment of market equilibrium even in the continuing presence of 'polluter havens'; * the effect of the ECJ's so-called 'joint application jurisprudence' on the ETS; and * the allocation of allowances from a state aid perspective. The book provides both a coherent typology of emission allowance allocation mechanisms and the main characteristics of the present emissions trading system, setting the gained insights into a broader perspective. It examines how various assignment mechanisms deal with issues such as price determination, allocative efficiency and environmental effectiveness. It considers how market-based allocation mechanisms compare with administrative allocation mechanisms, particularly those based on the widely applied grandfathering method. And perhaps most important - and of especial value to practitioners and policymakers - it identifies the auction design challenges that must be addressed by the Commission in its implementing regulation due by 30 June 2010.