Analysing the European carbon market in 2006 was a bit like riding a roller coaster. At first, (almost) everyone believed the market to be short, and prices rose to over �30 per tonne. After the accidental and unco-ordinated release of emissions data for 2005, the market realised it was most likely long for Phase I (2005–2007) and so the market lost about two thirds of its value in a matter of weeks. Although prices shot back, they have been on a gradual decline towards zero since then. Carbon