03/29/2024

Southern California is getting cheated on cap and trade: Guest commentary

With the adoption of Assembly Bill 32 in 2006, California established ambitious greenhouse-gas reduction goals to combat the growing effects of global climate change. For the past decade, the state has implemented a variety of programs to help meet this mandate, including establishing a cap-and-trade auction.

As of last Dec. 31, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund had collected $3.5 billion in cap-and-trade revenue and awarded $1.7 billion.

Somehow, however, Southern California has become an afterthought in the cap-and-trade process.

According to the Air Resources Board, less than 20 percent went to projects within our six-county region, even though we account for 48 percent of the state’s population.

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