This blog was co-authored by Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California State Director at Environmental Defense Fund.
Results of the August Western Climate Initiative auction were released today, and as expected we saw strong demand for allowances. At the same time, California Air Resources Board (CARB) is continuing its series of workshops exploring potential changes to the cap-and-trade program, which are an important opportunity to increase the state’s climate ambition.
Yesterday, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) released the results from Washington’s first Allowance Price Containment Reserve (APCR) auction, held on August 9th. At this auction, all 1,054,000 of the available APCR allowances were sold at the two APCR tier prices of $51.90 and $66.68, with 527,000 allowances available at each price tier. This auction, along with two previous sold-out cap-and-invest auctions, shows continued strong demand for allowances under Washington’s cap-and-invest program and demonstrates the important role that an APCR can play in building predictability and stability into allowances prices.
The aerial scenic view of the elevated highway on the high bridge over the Lehigh River at the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Lehigh Valley, Poconos region, Pennsylvania, USA. Photo credit: Getty Images.
Pennsylvania has a long history of energy production, stretching as far back as the late 1700s. A central role in fossil fuels, however, is rooted in Pennsylvania’s past, not its future.
The state is poised to become a leader in our nation’s transition to a clean, resilient zero-pollution economy. Pennsylvania will take an important step by joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multistate program under which power companies are obliged to pay for the pollution they create and must reduce pollution over time.
RGGI will provide hundreds of millions of dollars annually from auctions which can be used to fund projects that reduce air pollution and energy costs, like energy efficiency, and for the deployment of renewable energy. RGGI, coupled with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), now celebrating its one-year anniversary, create a golden opportunity for Pennsylvania to become a trailblazer in the new energy economy and turn the page on its fossil fuel past. Indeed, states with strong climate policies will see greater uptake of these once-in-a-generation economic growth opportunities.
Pennsylvania is only beginning to see the funding flowing from these unprecedented federal investments. Here are three examples highlighting how the Biden administration’s clean energy plan is having an impact:
A year since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law, this historic climate legislation has already led to $278 billion in private investment that will support more than 170,000 clean energy jobs across the country.
And the work is just getting started.
Manufacturing incentives in the law, which encourage companies to build the clean energy supply chain here in the U.S., are creating manufacturing jobs and new economic opportunities for communities. According to the BlueGreen Alliance, the IRA will spur an estimated 900,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs over the next decade. The law also pairs incentives with labor standards that protect and prepare workers by requiring fair wages and apprenticeships.
Get to know some of the towns and communities around the country that are winning these major manufacturing investments and getting ready to build the clean energy technologies that will power our future.
This blog was authored by Julia Ilhardt, former High Meadows Fellow, Global Climate Cooperation.
At the end of last year, 196 nations agreed to the historic Global Biodiversity Framework, which includes the goal to protect 30% of land and sea area by 2030. Still, nature is woefully underfinanced, with investments in nature-based solutions needing to double to USD 384 billion per year by 2025, according to UNEP.
This blog was co-authored by Mary Catherine Hanafee LaPlante, Intern, U.S. Climate Policy
As the hottest summer on record scorches the state, California leaders are working to tackle the impacts of climate change head-on by strengthening an essential tool in their climate policy toolbox: the state’s cap-and-trade program.
Last year, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) finalized its Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality which recognized the importance of accelerating action this decade to put the state on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045 as well as 85% reductions below the 1990 level. Specifically, the Scoping Plan highlights that California needs to exceed its near-term goal and achieve 48% reductions below 1990 by 2030.
To reach these critical goals, CARB is evaluating potential amendments to its cap-and-trade program. With two workshops on the books, CARB is already making significant strides towards fortifying the program.
Here are four key opportunities for the state to strengthen the cap-and-trade program:
