E&E News: “Merging State Carbon Markets Could Cut More Pollution, Report Says”
This piece discusses in detail a new RFF report about a potential linkage between California and Washington’s carbon markets.
Linking the only two statewide carbon markets in the U.S. could help cut climate pollution faster, according to a new report.
Washington state and California both run carbon markets that set a yearly cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The report from Resources for the Future found that merging the programs could prevent prices in the Washington market from rising so high they trigger a state requirement to sell extra carbon credits that allow additional pollution.
Uniting the two markets “pulls Washington's price down below its price ceiling,” preventing the need to sell extra credits, said Dallas Burtraw, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future and one of the report's authors.
