There has been a slowdown in the global economy, but that’s not what seems to be the limiting factor in the global carbon market growth, which reached $64 billion in 2007, the World Bank reports in this Reuter’s story.

Reuters says that the global carbon market more than doubled in 2007 to $64 billion, but that “masked slow growth in actual greenhouse gas emissions cuts,” according to the World Bank’s carbon finance unit.

It seems that the future-forward climate change policies in the West are working like a charm to limit the production of greenhouse gases. These policies have created a boon in emissions permits demand.

A popular way for companies and individuals to offset their emissions is by buying offsets in developing nations under the Kyoto Protocol’s UN-led scheme. (Visit Carbon Catalog’s list of providers to see how popular this approach is). But growth in value of offsets is “outstripping emissions cuts,” the World Bank warns.

Trading of offsets under Kyoto schemes more than doubled to $13.4 billion in 2007 but the volume of actual carbon dioxide cuts by registered projects grew by only 7 percent.

Said Karen Capoor who heads sustainable development for the World Bank, “At a time that global cooperation to reduce the risk of climate change is more important than ever before, the prospects for developing countries benefiting from the carbon market are in question.”

Apparently the slow growth of actual cuts is due to bureaucratic hurdles and procedural delays. Let’s get pencil pushers everywhere inspired: experts and policymakers believe that the carbon offset demands of the West will accelerate and finance the clean-up of industry and pollution in developing countries –– countries which are expected to be the biggest planet-warming gas emitters in the next decades.

Carbon Catalog related:

A Question of Standards: WWF Report

How to Evaluate Carbon Offsets

Types of Carbon Offset Project

::State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2008 (World Bank Report links to PDF)

::Reuters