On February 19, the U.S. officially reentered the Paris Agreement after being on the sidelines for four years. Even with the federal government beginning to restore and strengthen climate leadership, states still have a critical role to play in putting climate action points on the board. Oregon’s recently launched Climate Protection Program has the potential to deliver critical state-led climate leadership by putting an enforceable limit on emissions across its economy. This limit would decline in line with Oregon’s science-based climate targets, ensuring that the state slashes harmful climate-warming pollution. This is why EDF and the broader environmental community are so concerned about a few policy design suggestions that could severely cripple Oregon’s ability to reach the climate goals the state has already committed to.
In this installment, we want to shine a light on one design element that could provide a backdoor to blowing up the climate budget that Oregon will rely on to achieve its climate goals: the alternative compliance instrument. It may seem like a wonky term, but it’s an incredibly important piece of the puzzle to get right.