Ontario signs formal agreement to join Quebec-California carbon market in 2018
Ontario, Quebec and California signed an agreement Friday to create the world’s second largest carbon market, with their leaders dismissing naysayers and predicting that more provinces and states would soon join.
Quebec and California have been jointly holding cap-and-trade auctions since 2014, and as of Jan. 1, 2018, those will now include Ontario, which has been running its own cap-and-trade system since Jan. 1 of this year, with three sell-out auctions in a row.
The system aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions puts caps on the amount of pollution companies in certain industries can emit, and if they exceed those limits they must buy allowances at auction or from other companies that come in under their limits.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said creating the world’s largest carbon market besides the European Union is an important step.