When someone mentions "global warming", hang on to your wallet

Here.

Excerpt:

Here's how this Kyoto sting works. The developed countries that ratify Kyoto promise to cut their greenhouse emissions by agreed amounts by the year 2012.

Underdeveloped countries can just let rip, which actually makes the whole thing a farce since China is probably the world's biggest emitter, getting much bigger every year and making our own sacrifices useless.

But here's the nasty catch. Countries that don't meet their targets -- by shutting down "dirty" industries or belting consumers with such high prices for coal-fired power that they switch off or buy a pricey green alternative -- must pay a price.

That price is a carbon credit bought from a country that is under its own target, and can sell you the carbon dioxide it has saved, for around $25 a tonne at current prices.

Who are these lucky sellers? Mainly former Soviet satellites whose economies crashed after their targets were set, driving emissions down.