California’s lawmakers over the weekend extended the state’s carbon market for years — and rebranded it to mirror Washington’s landmark climate policy.
The two West Coast states are pulling to the head of the national pack in their efforts to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions while the federal government boosts the coal, gas and oil industries.
Originally set to expire in 2030, California’s carbon market will now extend through 2045, the Legislature decided. The move injects a sense of stability into the rocky political landscape of climate policy, an encouraging development as the two states consider whether to join forces, said Joel Creswell, who manages the climate pollution reduction program for Washington’s Department of Ecology.
“We’re not waiting for the federal gove