As Canada’s premiers converge on Quebec City for a major climate summit, we’re lifting the lid on the policies, players, and politics of the province’s cap and trade carbon pricing system.
Our new report Inside North America’s largest Carbon Market: Top Lessons from the Front Lines of Quebec’s Fight Against Carbon Pollution released today, offers leaders who may be considering a cap and trade system key insights from those who have already done so.
[download file=”/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/InsideNorthAmericaLargestCarbonMarket_ENGL_Spreads.pdf” text=”Inside North America’s largest Carbon Market – 12.7MB” ]
Introduced just three years ago, the Quebec-California cap and trade alliance, under the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), is North America’s largest carbon market. All eyes are on the system this week as Quebec hosts its summit, and as reports suggest Ontario may soon be joining the system.
To compile the document, we conducted 10 confidential and candid interviews with the original architects of Quebec’s cap and trade system, including former premier Jean Charest, as well as government, academic, and industry insiders.
Together with our preceding report, How To Adopt a Winning Carbon Price, which focused on British Columbia’s carbon tax, we’ve now offered a look “under the hood” of the two major approaches to carbon pricing, and the important lessons offered by each.
Carbon pricing is rapidly becoming the new normal. It’s something that jurisdictions around the world are looking to do, and the ones who have done it are looking to improve on it. Our research in both B.C. and Quebec shows us that governments survive—and policies can thrive—when you’re bold enough to lead on climate.
Ce rapport est également disponible en français
Note: This week we’ll be excerpting key sections and findings from Inside North America’s largest Carbon Market. Tomorrow, we’ll kick off by highlighting the nuts and bolts of how Quebec’s cap and trade system works.
