Climate change legislation is looming, and once it passes, it will touch nearly everything from average people, to huge corporations, to exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Climate change legislation has everyone wondering what its passage could mean to them. Steve Gelsi for MarketWatch explains that the executive types will have to cope quickly with carbon cost, rules and benefits associated with their products and services, while consumers will be reminded of the carbon footprints their purchases made during production.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act aims to cut emissions from 2005 levels by 17% in 2020 and 83% by 2050.

Verification, trading platforms, and new technology are all presenting new challenges and opportunities for companies and entrepreneurs.

Wall Street firms are ramping up their brokerage operations in order to accommodate the new market for carbon offsets and investment tools that access them, such as the current note below:

• iPath Global Carbon ETN (GRN): down 5% year-to-date

The climate change legislation now under consideration in Congress is similar to successful efforts in the 1990s to curb sulfur dioxide emissions by capping them and trading an initial pool of nine million allowances. With the new legislation, the funding is much larger.

For more stories about carbon trading, visit our carbon category.

Tags: Commodity ETFs, ETN, Green ETFs, GRN, Socially Responsible ETFs