Creating the UK emission trading scheme: motives and symbolic politics

This paper explores the business-led advocacy of the UK emission trading scheme with special focus on the symbolic benefits of emission trading for the business community. It traces the development of the UK Emissions Trading Group and links the group's preferences for emission trading to socio-economic, operational and legislative contexts. The analysis reveals that, although business originally supported emission trading as an alternative to taxation, more socio-symbolic motives shaped business interest in emission trading after announcement of the Climate Change Levy. This suggests that symbolic politics can drive industry support for economic instruments such as emission trading, even when the economic rationale for doing so is diminished or constrained by existing policy frameworks or wider socio-economic contexts. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.