ebmgh.com

This week, CARB, or the California Air Resources Board released a draft of the state’s cap and trade program to limit the emission of CO₂ from major polluters. From the original passage of California’s landmark global warming bill AB32 in 2005, cap and trade was intended as a centerpiece for reducing the state’s contribution to global warming. KQED’s Climate Watch has a few details, including some enviros’ disappointment that CARB has not spelled out some of the most pernicious details, including auctioning of allowances (who gets their existing level of pollution grandfathered in, and how much do polluters pay for the right to pollute), offsets (can I pay for a re-forestation project in Borneo instead of making actual changes at my plant?), and markets (are we seriously thinking of allowing hedge funds to create new exotic financial instruments called “carbon derivatives”?).