The Ultimate List of Carbon Emission Allowance ETFs
Carbon ETFs targeting EU Emissions Trading (EU ETS) offer direct exposure to Europe’s flagship carbon market. These instruments primarily trade on European and US exchanges, providing institutional-grade access to Emission Allowances (EUA). As the world’s first and most liquid cap-and-trade system, EU ETS represents over 90% of global carbon market value.
EU carbon ETFs do more than track allowance prices; they serve as strategic climate policy instruments. The primary advantages of these specialized vehicles include:
- Policy-driven returns: Direct correlation with EU climate ambitions and supply-reduction mechanisms like the Market Stability Reserve.
- Industrial hedging: Utilities, airlines, and manufacturers use EUAs to hedge compliance exposure to carbon costs.
- Greenflation sensitivity: Outperform during policy tightening as allowance scarcity increases.
The regulatory impact is profound: ICE EUA futures gained 150% after the EU’s “Fit for 55” legislation announcement. Tracking these futures, carbon ETFs like KraneShares Global Carbon (KRBN) now represent institutional access to a €750 billion compliance market. Investing through these instruments provides efficient exposure to carbon pricing trends affecting over 10,000 European industrial facilities.
Top performers show structural resilience mechanisms. During 2022’s energy crisis, carbon allowances consistently outperformed energy equities by 35% due to EU’s supply controls. KraneShares ETF documentation confirms the Market Stability Reserve program has removed over 530 million excess allowances since 2019. This explains why EUA prices increased 15x faster than oil during the past decade.
As “policy momentum” vehicles, carbon ETFs demonstrate accelerated policy reactions: Legislative updates to climate targets can trigger 30% weekly moves. Leading options include futures-based global ETFs (KRBN), EU-specific funds (KEUA), inverse volatility instruments, and UCITS-compliant vehicles for European investors monitoring ETS auction schedules and MSR intake reports.
Regulated brokerThe following table contains a comprehensive list of EU carbon allowance ETFs ranked by AUM and trading volume, traded on global exchanges. Both UCITS and US-listed futures-based products are included. All presented data (term structure, bid-ask spreads) are updated hourly to reflect current EUA prices and market conditions.
| Stock | Price | Change % | Chart (24H) | 52 Week Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $35.28 | 1.09% | |||
| $15.60 | 0.23% | |||
| $34.54 | 0.81% | |||
| $12.67 | 0.29% | |||
| $29.30 | 2.20% |
