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Data

Which countries have a carbon emissions trading system?

RFF

What you should know about this indicator

  • This data primarily focuses on economic instruments targeting carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.
  • In some cases these instruments also cover other greenhouse gases. However, any pricing mechanisms that specifically target non-CO₂ gases (such as methane or nitrous oxide) are not included.
  • A country is considered to have a carbon tax or emissions trading system if at least one IPCC sector or gas is covered by the instrument. These instruments do not need to cover all sectors within the economy for this to apply.
Which countries have a carbon emissions trading system?
RFF
This data indicates whether at least one sector(-fuel) is covered by at least one emissions trading system at the national level, or only at the sub-national level, or whether no sector is covered.
Source
Dolphin and Merkle (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
May 8, 2026
Next expected update
May 2027
Date range
1989–2025

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Resources for the Future – World Carbon Pricing Database

This dataset contains information on carbon pricing mechanisms (carbon taxes or cap-and-trade) introduced around the world since 1990. To date, it is the most comprehensive attempt at providing a consistent-across-jurisdiction description of carbon pricing mechanisms in terms of their sectoral (and fuel) coverage as well as the associated price signal.

It covers national and sub-national economic mechanisms relating to carbon emissions, and was developed from several key sources: Most notably, policy documents from countries and regions themselves. Secondly, from other sources such as the International Carbon Action Partnership.

Retrieved on
May 8, 2026
Retrieved from
https://github.com/g-dolphin/WorldCarbonPricingDatabase/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Dolphin, G., Merkle, M. Emissions-weighted carbon price: sources and methods. Sci Data 11, 1017 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03121-6.
Dolphin, G., Xiahou, Q. World carbon pricing database: sources and methods. Sci Data 9, 573 (2022). The article is available in Open Access at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01659-x.
Supported by Resources for the Future.

This dataset contains information on carbon pricing mechanisms (carbon taxes or cap-and-trade) introduced around the world since 1990. To date, it is the most comprehensive attempt at providing a consistent-across-jurisdiction description of carbon pricing mechanisms in terms of their sectoral (and fuel) coverage as well as the associated price signal.

It covers national and sub-national economic mechanisms relating to carbon emissions, and was developed from several key sources: Most notably, policy documents from countries and regions themselves. Secondly, from other sources such as the International Carbon Action Partnership.

Retrieved on
May 8, 2026
Retrieved from
https://github.com/g-dolphin/WorldCarbonPricingDatabase/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Dolphin, G., Merkle, M. Emissions-weighted carbon price: sources and methods. Sci Data 11, 1017 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03121-6.
Dolphin, G., Xiahou, Q. World carbon pricing database: sources and methods. Sci Data 9, 573 (2022). The article is available in Open Access at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01659-x.
Supported by Resources for the Future.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Which countries have a carbon emissions trading system?”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser (2023) - “CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions”. Data adapted from Resources for the Future. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-082946/grapher/carbon-emissions-trading-system.html [online resource] (archived on May 11, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Dolphin and Merkle (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Dolphin and Merkle (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Which countries have a carbon emissions trading system? – RFF” [dataset]. Resources for the Future, “World Carbon Pricing Database” [original data]. Retrieved May 11, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-082946/grapher/carbon-emissions-trading-system.html (archived on May 11, 2026).

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