Carbon pricing systems aimed at reducing emissions are expanding rapidly worldwide as nations look to meet climate goals, avoid climate-related export taxes and develop new revenue sources, a new report says.
Twenty governments in states and nations are developing or considering carbon pricing policies, including Brazil and Turkey, according to a 2025 analysis by the International Carbon Action Partnership, a cooperative of governments that tracks carbon policies. Already, 38 emissions trading systems globally were operating at the end of 2024.
Those systems include the statewide cap-and-trade style carbon markets in California and Washington state, and Oregon’s new market, which limits carbon emissions but is smaller in scope.
“Carbon pricing is expanding, and it’s expanding in terms of quantity, and … probably even more importantly, it’s expanding in quality,” Lukas Visek, a member of the European Commission’s Diplomatic Task Force for Carbon Pricing and Carbon Markets, said during a recent webinar held by the report publisher.
