In a move that’s getting surprisingly little coverage, the state of California will adopt groundbreaking economy-wide cap-and-trade regulations, the first of their kind in the United States. As California carries the eighth-largest economy in the world, many people will be looking to the state to see whether or not rolling out rules like these is doable, and if they accomplish their desired effect.
To discuss cap-and-trade in California, we bring in Michael Nesteroff, via iPad. Nesteroff is an attorney at Lane Powell and an author on the firm’s blog, Sustainability & Climate Change Reporter.
In our interview, we discuss:
- First off, how cap-and-trade came to be a reality in California. “It was a long and tortuous process” that started with AB 32 in 2006, which mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
- Exactly how these regulations are going to be rolled out and who they are going to be applied to. The first regulations go into effect on January 1, 2012.
- What’s next? Are we going to see cap-and-trade rules like this rolled out in the rest of the country? Not quite.
