Late last week, after a number of months of intense negotiations, the EU framed its post 2012 proposals and an outline of own Emissions Trading Scheme to follow Kyoto’s, to be known as EU ETS.

The word offset can often upset even the mildest of men and women. Indeed, the very mention of trading them sends environmentalists and stockbrokers into paroxysms of abuse or affection, depending on their point of view (and how much money they make from buying, selling or owning them). The disparity of opinion is not surprising, as offsets are often used to describe something that is hard both to imagine and conceptualise.

Fields of Joy or Famine For Millions? The debate on biofuels rages on again this week as a new report gives incentives for farmers to join the renewable energy revolution