Six northeastern states of the US will hold their first auction of carbon emission allowances tomorrow (Thursday September 25) – inaugurating the first mandatory carbon trading system in the US.
This move, as well as a plan announced on Tuesday by the Western Climate Initiative, are small but important steps forward on the long road to reducing US carbon emissions and establishing a meaningful carbon permit market.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, formed by 10 states – New York, New Jersey, Maryland and all the New England states – will auction 12.565m permits to emit one ton of CO2 to 233 power utilities and factories that generate their own electricity. The results will be announced on Monday September 29.
The cap-and-trade system will begin on January 1, 2009. Affected...