The practice of trading carbon credits to lower greenhouse emissions has not yet taken hold in America. But in Europe, the practice has been widespread for nearly a decade, and is not without its troubles. Most recently comes news from Germany that investigators have uncovered a ploy being used by shady companies to lift 850 million euros from the carbon trading business. The criminal companies were found to have recycled carbon certificates in such a manner that they could rake in hundreds of millions, and then simply announce bankruptcy and disappear. Since organized crime is also implicated in Europe’s carbon scheme, maybe it’s good America hasn’t tried on this latest European fashion.