With our summer blog series on the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) winding down, it’s time to tackle one of its thornier criticisms: hot air. This is the claim that a chunk of the supposed emissions reductions from the cap-and-trade system aren’t genuine or real. If true, hot air could be undermining the integrity of the […]
As we’ve noted in our summer blog series, California has a cap-and-trade system. But it’s also got a low-carbon fuel standard. And a renewable electricity portfolio standard. And vehicle emissions performance standards. And a swath of other policies to reduce GHG emissions. In fact, the California Air and Resources Board estimates that these “complementary climate […]
We have a new report out this week on comparing the stringency of provincial carbon pricing policies. In case you don’t have time to read it all, this blog provides quick overview of the essentials. Be sure to check out the full report for (much) more detail. Comparing stringency is important… but trickier than it […]
In the previous instalment of our summer blog series Unpacking the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), we took a look at the legal uncertainty facing the California cap-and-trade system, one of two key drivers of the recent undersubscribed allowance auctions. In this blog we’ll look at the second driver—permit oversupply—and why the smart design of the […]
Summer in Canada: time to lounge by a lake, right? Well, not if you’re part of the federal-provincial working group on carbon pricing (or, for that matter, a dedicated Ecofiscal Commission researcher…). For carbon wonks, the arrival of summer this year means we’re well into a six-month process initiated at a first Ministers meeting in […]
by Simon Altman In the first blog of our series Unpacking the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), we looked at the implications of Ontario and Quebec’s decision to link with California. In today’s blog we explore an ongoing lawsuit in California that could pose an existential threat to its cap-and-trade system, and what it might mean […]