Western Climate Initiative

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Western Climate Initiative, Inc.
Area served
North America
Key people
Jason Hollett, Chair
Liane Randolph, Vice-Chair
Members
Websitewww.wci-inc.org

Western Climate Initiative, Inc. (WCI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation which administers the shared emissions trading market between the American state of California and the Canadian province of Quebec as well as separately administering the individual emissions trading systems in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and American state of Washington. It also provides administrative, technical and infrastructure services to support the implementation of cap-and-trade programs in other North American jurisdictions. The organization was originally founded in February 2007 by the governors of five western states with the goal of developing a multi-sector, market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; it was incorporated in its current form in 2011.[1]

Structure

Since its reincorporation in 2011 as a non-profit corporation, WCI is governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the participating jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction appoints two voting directors to the Board.[2]

Position Name Jurisdiction Notes
Chair Jason Hollett  Nova Scotia Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Environment and Climate Change
Vice-Chair Liane Randolph  California Chair, California Air Resources Board
Treasurer Jean-Yves Benoit  Quebec Director General of Carbon Regulation and Emissions Data, Ministry of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change
Secretary Lilani Kumaranayake  Nova Scotia Executive Director of Fiscal Policy, Economics and Budgetary Planning, Department of Finance
Additional Voting Directors Jared Blumenfeld  California Secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency
Kim Ricard  Quebec Director of Carbon Market Division, Ministry of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change
Laura Watson  Washington Director, Washington State Department of Ecology
Luke Martland  Washington Climate Commitment Act Implementation Manager, Washington State Department of Ecology

History

The Western Climate Initiative was founded as the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative on February 26, 2007, by the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. The founding agreement stated the goal of the WRCAI was to evaluate and implement ways to reduce their states's emissions of greenhouse gases and achieve related co-benefits.[3] These states and future participants in the initiative (collectively known as WCI "partners") also committed to set an overall regional goal to reduce emissions (set in August 2007 as 15 percent below 2005 emission levels by 2020),[4] participate in a cross-border greenhouse gas registry to consistently measure and track emissions, and adopt clean tailpipe standards for passenger vehicles. By July 2008, the initiative had expanded to include two more U.S. states (Montana and Utah) and four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec). Together, these partners comprised 20 percent of the U.S. GDP and 76 percent of the Canadian GDP.[5]

Goals and design

The most ambitious and controversial objective of the WCI was to develop a multi-sector, market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Detailed design recommendations for a regional

emissions offsets
from projects across North America.

Criticisms of WCI

Some observers[

greenwash designed to avoid committing to the Kyoto Protocol, and cited evidence that much more drastic cuts, up to 40%, could be achieved without affecting investment yield in equities, a good indicator that such cuts would not affect economic prospects in the economy as a whole.[7]

Partners vs. observers

Several U.S. partners, although active participants in the design of the program, announced in 2010 that they would either delay or not implement the program in their jurisdictions. The partnership was therefore streamlined to include only California and the four Canadian provinces actively working to implement the program. As of January 2012, regulations have not been issued by British Columbia, Manitoba, or Ontario, although a carbon tax in British Columbia will be increasing to $30/tonne of

CO2 equivalents in July 2012.[8] Several WCI partners also remain active in the International Carbon Action Partnership
, an international coordinating body for several such regional carbon trading bodies.

hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and coal
resources that would have broad impacts beyond climate on water, including more ocean acidification.

Until late 2011, the initiative included two types of participants: partners and observers.[10]

For several years, the partners were the

Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec
. All states except California and Quebec withdrew in 2011. See below: Membership changes.

The observers included at various times

Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas
.

Membership changes

  • 26 February 2007: Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington form the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative.[11]
  • 24 April 2007: British Columbia joined with the five western states, turning the WCI into an international partnership.[12]
  • 21 May 2007: Utah became the sixth state to join the WCI when Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. signed the Initiative.[13] Huntsman was the second Republican governor to join, after California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  • 13 June 2007: Manitoba said that it would be the second Canadian province to join the WCI.[14]
  • 24 September 2007: Alaska joined the WCI as an observer.[15]
  • 19 November 2007: The Governor of Montana announced that his state would also join.[16]
  • January 2008: Montana officially joins the WCI.[11]
  • 18 April 2008: Quebec, previously an observer, became a partner.[17]
  • 18 July 2008: Ontario, previously an observer, became a partner.[9]
  • 2 February 2010: Arizona announces it will not implement a cap-and-trade program, particularly during the economic downturn, but maintains its membership in the WCI as a partner.[18]
  • 29 June 2011: California announces that enforcement of the cap will be delayed one year to allow the necessary elements of the program to be in place and fully functional. The stringency of the cap and expected amount of emission reductions, however, will remain unchanged.[19]
  • 6 July 2011: In order to maintain a coordinated approach to implementing the regional program, Quebec announces a one-year delay in enforcement of the cap.[20]
  • 18 November 2011: Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington leave WCI formally.
    cap and trade system to replace it.[23]

As of December 2011, the remaining WCI partners were California and the Canadian provinces British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.

After British Columbia ceased participation in emissions trading in 2018, it remained a participating jurisdiction under WCI by-laws until amendments were made.[27][28]

As of 2022, the participating WCI jurisdictions are the American states of California and Washington; and the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Quebec.

See also

References

  1. ^ "CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION OF WESTERN CLIMATE INITIATIVE, INC" (PDF). Documents. Western Climate Initiative. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  2. ^ "By-Laws of Western Climate Initiative, Inc" (PDF). Western Climate Initiative. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  3. ^ "WCI Governors' Agreement".
  4. ^ "Emission Reduction Goal Aug 2007".
  5. ^ "WCI Brochure (May 2010)".
  6. ^ "General Documents".
  7. ISBN 9780857933188
    – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Strategy, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. "British Columbia's Carbon Tax - Province of British Columbia". www2.gov.bc.ca.
  9. ^ a b c "Ontario to sign cap-and-trade climate plan".
  10. ^ "Western Climate Initiative Update" (PDF). California Climate Change Portal. 2007-08-07. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  11. ^ a b "Milestones".
  12. ^ Premier, Office of the (24 April 2007). "B.C. JOINS WESTERN REGIONAL CLIMATE ACTION INITIATIVE".
  13. ^ "Huntsman Signs Global Warming Pact". KSL-TV. 2007-05-21. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  14. ^ Carr, Matthew (2007-06-13). "Manitoba to Join U.S. States in Program to Cut Carbon Emissions". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
  15. ^ News-Miner, Fairbanks Daily. "404 Error". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  16. ^ Bureau, MIKE DENNISON of the Missoulian State. "Governor releases goals on emissions".
  17. ^ Québec, Services. "Communiqués diffusés le 24 april 2017 - Portail Québec".
  18. ^ "Executive Order 2010-06, Governor's Policy on Climate Change" (PDF). www.azclimatechange.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-07-24.
  19. ^ Roosevelt, Margot (30 June 2011). "California delays its carbon-trading program until 2013" – via LA Times.
  20. ^ "Quebec Delays WCI Carbon Market Scheme". July 18, 2011.
  21. ^ "Six US states leave the Western Climate Initiative" (November 18, 2011). S&P Global Platts. www.platts.com. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
  22. ^ "6 States Pull Out of Western Climate Initiative" (November 22, 2011). SustainableBusiness.com News. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
  23. ^ Jaccard, Mark; Dowlatabadi, Hadi (2011-06-09). "Six reasons to delay joining California's cap-and-trade program". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  24. ^ Scotia, Communications Nova (May 11, 2018). "Nova Scotia Joins Western Climate Initiative Inc". News Releases.
  25. ^ Scotia, Communications Nova (October 20, 2014). "Government of Nova Scotia". climatechange.novascotia.ca.
  26. ^ "Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018". Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
  27. ^ "Minutes of the Board of Directors - Friday, February 9, 2018" (PDF). Western Climate Initiative. Mr. Rodriquez commented that while Mr. Lesiuk has resigned from the Board, British Columbia remains a Participating Jurisdiction and may choose to appoint new directors or participate more actively in the future.
  28. ^ "By-Laws of Western Climate Initiative, Inc" (PDF). October 26, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2022. List of Western Climate Initiative, Inc's participating jurisdictions. Last updated March 23, 2020.
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