Washington state moves forward with program to charge companies for greenhouse gas emissions

Washington state is holding its first carbon-allowance auction on Tuesday, marking a key step forward in a statewide program that will impose a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and make it more expensive for companies to emit carbon pollution.

Washington’s cap-and-invest program was established under the Climate Commitment Act that was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2021. The program imposes a statewide limit, or cap, on greenhouse gas emissions. It also requires businesses to purchase pollution allowances that will become increasingly costly and act as an incentive for businesses to curb emissions.

The new law requires businesses that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually to buy emissions allowances at the Washington Department of Ecology’s auction. The department will create only as many allowances as the program’s limit allows, and the cap will be lowered each year. Washington joins 14 other states that have imposed some form of a program that imposes caps on company emissions. Read more