The Pros of a Cap Trade 1. It creates a new economic resource for industries. The idea of the cap trade is based on two specific points: companies will be encouraged to lower their emissions because there is a low cost to do so while companies that have emissions credits can sell them for extra profit. Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Experience with Cap and Trade Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Experience with Cap and Trade, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Volume 11, Issue 1, Winter 2017, Pages 59–79, Journal of Law and Economics. 54 (S4): Cap-and-trade programs are intended to provide a market-based mechanism for reducing emissions of airborne pollutants, such as greenhouse gases. Under cap-and-trade, a government agency distributes a stack of tradable emissions allowance credits that add up to the emissions target established by the program for that year.