My boss and I run a Stakeholder Consortium for the sustainable commercial real estate sector in NYC, including property owners, managers, engineers, architects, construction managers, financiers, labor representatives, academics, utilities, and government.

Every meeting, it’s the same plaintive cry from almost everyone but the representatives of government: We need regulation.  They’re talking about setting mandatory carbon reduction targets, but it’s the same idea as regulation of the carbon markets.  We’re all crying out for some leadership in policy…

The global carbon markets grew to $50 billion in the first six months of 2008 and are expected to double by year’s end, according to Reuters. But the original outline of the carbon markets regulatory scheme didn’t anticipate the huge amount of interest in “Clean Development Mechanism” projects. Such projects allow developed nations to purchase credits from carbon-friendly projects in the developing world. Karan Capoor, a World Bank specialist in carbon and environmental finance, told Reuters, “[T]he regulatory infrastructure is not fully geared to handle this high level of interest.”