European carbon prices could treble from current levels to average above 19 euros ($23.80) over the next eight years provided European governments cut supply of permits, according to a survey by co

World Energy Solutions is selling 15 million sovereign Kyoto Protocol carbon emissions rights through its World Green Exchange, the Massachusetts-based company said in a statement late on Monday.

The British government on Wednesday said it will make carbon emissions credits exempt from value-added tax (VAT) from Thursday in response to fraudulent trading on a French emissions exchange.

Economic stimulus cash flowing into the water sector will make this nascent $400 billion market an attractive alternative to traditional equity markets, a panel of water market experts said on Wednesday.

Water shortages are on the rise, stemming from soaring demand, growing populations and rising living standards, and compounded by climate change.

Even with the new 60-seat Democrat majority in the U.S. Senate, President Barack Obama needs to cross party lines to gather support for new climate change legislation, a U.S. climate expert said on Tuesday.

A U.S. climate bill may eventually stoke major investment in the environmental sector, but analysts say a rise in takeover rumors is providing a short-term boost to shares in greenhouse gas emissions trading and offsetting companies. Britain is home to four major, publicly-traded carbon emissions trading companies, all of which have seen a marked rise in their share prices in the past month.

Shares in carbon emissions exchange operator Climate Exchange plc jumped nearly 17 percent on Tuesday after IntercontinentalExchange said it had taken a 4.8 percent stake in the company on Monday.

The shares, trading on the London Stock Exchange, closed up 107 pence or 16.6 percent at 751 pence.

European carbon has fallen by almost a fifth in the past month as utilities profited from a recent doubling in emissions prices, but analysts say Europe has to heat up or permit prices drop further before buyers return.

The economic downturn has claimed the jobs of tens of millions worldwide but most in the thriving climate change sector feel just as safe in their jobs, if not more so, than they did a year ago, a new Reuters survey shows.

Carbon prices and the speculators who trade the underlying emissions permits should remain unregulated, despite wild volatility in the nascent market, a panel of emissions traders said on Friday.