To address many of the environmental challenges that face us today, including climate change, countries are striving to deploy efficient and effective tools for environmental management at the national level. Tradable/transferable permits are one such tool. What are the key design parameters for domestic tradable permit programmes? What additional considerations should policy-makers keep in mind before choosing tradable permits over other policy instruments? Why have many proposals for domestic tradable permit systems failed to materialise and how could the obstacles be overcome?

This publication attempts to answer these questions, by providing a systematic analysis of the various approaches, challenges, conditions and potential solutions relating to the design and introduction of domestic transferable permit schemes.