It’s Getting Hot In Here

The five governors from Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and New Mexico just announced their Western Regional Climate Action Initiative which will “Create a regional target for reducing greenhouse gases within six months; Establish over the next 18 months a mechanism for meeting that target, which may mean creating a cap-and-trade system that would allow utilities or businesses that are beating the target to sell others the right to pollute; Create a five-state registry for tracking and managing greenhouse gas emissions.” according to the Seattle P-I. While it doesn’t mention specific numbers for a reductions target, it is more binding that the 2004 West Coast Governors’ Global Warming Initiative, which was simply a series of recommendations for reducing the West Coast’s contribution to global warming.

The impetus for this initiative comes from the lack of federal leadership on climate change. “In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country,” said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. Gee, that sounds exactly like the messaging we’ve been using…sounds like politicians are finally getting the point. Additionally British Columbia is interested in joining with the American West, which has the potential to get the Canadian Government to step up their climate policy as well.

In an agreement similar to the Northeast’s RGGI, the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative will bracket the US with regional limits on emissions, which will hopefully push businesses and the federal government to pursue national regulations. Gov Schwarzenegger (CA) sees the potential for building “a powerful framework for developing a national cap-and-trade program. This agreement shows the power of states to lead our nation addressing climate change.” While the cap-and-trade system may have its flaws and vehement opponents, it is one facet of the agreement intended to reduce regional emissions.

This initiative combines the cooperative efforts of the west coast and the desert southwest into one agreement with the potential for other states to join in. The geographic, environmental, cultural, political and economic diversity of these five states reflects the understanding out here that climate change is happening now and “Western states are being particularly hard-hit by the effects of climate change,” said Napolitano.

It is exciting to see such diverse states coming together to work on this, but we’ll have to wait to see how ambitious and effective this agreement actually is. However, with California in the mix, I’m hopeful that strong climate policy will actually come out of the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative.