(Washington, DC) In the wake of unprecedented worldwide interest in carbon trading and carbon markets, the Ecosystem Marketplace - the world's premier online source of information on environmental markets - has launched V-Carbon News, a bi-weekly electronic publication focusing specifically on voluntary carbon markets and carbon developments outside the Kyoto sphere.

"Carbon trading under the Kyoto Protocol's regulatory system is fast-growing, and many information services have emerged to help people understand the market," said Ricardo Bayon, Director of the Ecosystem Marketplace. "We saw the need for a publication that provides news, features and analysis on voluntary carbon markets. These voluntary markets are growing faster than many people realize, largely because corporations, consumers, regulators and non-governmental organizations in the US, Australia and other countries that don't participate in Kyoto are looking for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for possible future regulatory schemes."

The Ecosystem Marketplace's V-Carbon News is offered at no cost and is written for a broad audience including policy-makers, the business community, investors and investment advisors, non-government organizations and individual consumers. Headlines from this week's issue include:

• Kyoto Anniversary Prompts Climate Challenge... A voluntary offsets provider--Carbonfund.org--has launched a climate challenge for US citizens.

• Shareholder Push for Corporate Disclosure Continues Strengthening... Four more utilities joined industry fellows in agreeing to assess and disclose the impacts of future greenhouse gas controls on their business after shareholder campaigns.

• Australia-NZ Carbon Trading Proposed... Participants at a climate change conference proposed that leaders in Australia and New Zealand should consider setting up a carbon trading scheme across both countries.

To view the V-Carbon News or for your free subscription, go to http://ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/static/signup.php.

Established in 2004, the Ecosystem Marketplace provides the first transparent source of information on emerging environmental markets (markets for carbon, water quality, water quantity, and biodiversity) including comprehensive news, regulatory information, market analysis and price tracking for users throughout the world. The Ecosystem Marketplace harvests the knowledge and ingenuity of over 150 worldwide business and environmental experts and can be found at www.ecosystemmarketplace.com. The Ecosystem Marketplace is an initiative of Forest Trends, www.forest-trends.org.

Forest Trends

Forest Trends

Forest Trends' mission is to maintain, restore, and enhance forests and connected natural ecosystems, life-sustaining processes, by promoting incentives stemming from a broad range of ecosystem services and products. Specifically, Forest Trends seeks to catalyze the development of integrated carbon, water, and biodiversity incentives that deliver real conservation outcomes and benefits to local communities and other stewards of our natural resources.

Forest Trends analyzes strategic market and policy issues, catalyzes connections between producers, communities and investors, and develops new financial tools to help markets work for conservation and people.

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