New York wants to join California in carbon market

OREANDA-NEWS. October 09, 2015. New York state governor Andrew Cuomo (D) today said he wants to work with California and others to create a North American carbon market.

Cuomo said that New York will reach out to the other members of the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in an effort to link their power sector-only cap-and-trade program with California and Quebec's economy-wide carbon market. Ontario, which is developing rules for a cap-and-trade program, plans on joining California and Quebec as soon as 2017.

Cuomo made the announcement as he signed the California-led Under 2 Memorandum, which commits its signatories to reducing emissions enough to keep the rise in global warming temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius.

"Today, New York is stepping up," Cuomo said. "We are joining together and committing ourselves to tackling climate change and showing the nation what is possible. Now it is up to world leaders to follow suit."

Discussions over how to deal with transportation emissions in New England may lead to new programs and not necessarily an expansion of the RGGI cap-and-trade program, a Vermont official said yesterday.

"My personal opinion is that it is most likely that [the RGGI states] would deal with most of the economy outside of RGGI" by creating new programs that could link with Quebec and California's carbon market, Vermont secretary for administration Justin Johnson said yesterday at the Argus California Carbon and LCFS Summit in Napa, California.

Vermont governor Peter Shumlin (D) has been in discussions with Quebec premier Philippe Couillard about increasing cooperation on climate policy. Johnson said the ability of any one state to affect the energy system in the region was limited. S states should also take a fresh look at a low-carbon fuel standard now that the policy had stood the test of time and in California's courts, he said.