ICAP provides a mechanism whereby factories are allocated emission quotas based on total emissions of greenhouse gases, and credits toward those emission quotas can then be bought and sold by companies that have factories. Companies that produce lower emission levels than their allocated quota are able to sell the surplus allocations, and companies with higher than allocated emission volumes can purchase credits from others. ICAP’s role is to promote such trade between countries. In October 2007 the EU member states, nine US states, and two Canadian provinces agreed to standardize trade systems for international emission rights, and formed a trading partnership. The situation surrounding the introduction of this system in Japan is rather complicated because the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and Japan’s business community have not agreed to set emission quotas for the country or for companies nor to a means of emissions trading.