Over the past couple of months our summer blog series Unpacking the Western Climate Initiative has taken a look under the hood of California, Québec and Ontario’s integrated cap-and-trade system. In this final installment, we review what we’ve learned and take a look at some recent developments that have been in the headlines. Overall, we […]

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 […]

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 […]