There's been much talk recently of an emissions trading scheme here in Australia - particularly after the release of the Garnaut report. But what is carbon trading and how will effect businesses and individuals.

Simply put,  carbon trading is the tradsing of personal, corporate or national credits to maintain an/or reduce carbon emissions. If you accumulate carbon credits, beating set targets, as a business or as an individual you can sell the balance as credits to others who have exceeded their limits.

The Australian Federal Government is committed to an emissions trading scheme from 2010,but given the lack of information on emissions targets, it seems unlikely that this time frame will be met.