In May 2014, the 7th ICAP Training Course on Emissions Trading brought together 25 experts from China and South Korea to learn about emissions trading as a tool for climate protection and to discuss the options of implementing such systems in developing countries. The session in Beijing was the seventh of its kind and continues a series of past ICAP events held in other cities including Berlin, The Hague, Madrid, Dublin and Alajuela / Costa Rica. Michael Mehling, Benjamin Görlach and Matthias Duwe facilitated the course.

Ecologic Institute designed the curriculum and helped organize the course, which was carried out under the auspices of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) in close cooperation with Development Solutions. ICAP is a forum of 29 national and regional governments and jurisdictions, including several EU countries, the EU Commission, as well as a number of US states and Canadian provinces part of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Australia, New Zealand and Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), aiming to advance international cooperation on carbon markets. The course was funded by the EU Commission.

During the two-week course, participants gained an in-depth understanding of the design and implementation of carbon trading systems as a tool to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. They had the opportunity to discuss various aspects of emissions trading with experienced practitioners from the EU Commission, the Netherlands and other EU Member States, Australia, Tokyo and other jurisdictions with emissions trading systems around the world. The faculty also included experts from academia, think tanks and the private sector in North America and Europe, as well as business representatives.

Course topics addressed during the two weeks included the economics of climate change, choosing and combining policy instruments for climate protection, design and scope of emissions trading, allocation mechanisms, GHG inventories and registries, the link of domestic ETS to the international climate regime, carbon market dynamics, and other advanced aspects of ETS design and implementation. In discussing these issues, the course relied on interactive formats and group work, and made ample use of first-hand experience gained with the existing trading schemes in Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific region.

The course was attended by decision makers and future leaders from government, NGOs, academia and the private sector. Participants came from South Korea and China; most of them are actively involved in the design and implementation of emissions trading schemes in their respective jurisdictions (Chinese ETS pilots and South Korean national trading scheme. They were selected from several hundred applicants worldwide.