Ontario, Québec and Oregon Enter Cooperative Climate Agreement

Julius Pasay, The Climate Trust
Weekly Policy and Finance Update – May 14, 2018

THE BOTTOM LINE.

Last week, Oregon Governor Kate Brown, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, and Québec Premier Philippe Couillard signed a Memorandum of Understanding to accelerate actions to combat climate change. The agreement recognizes Ontario, Québec, and Oregon’s commitment to working together toward exploring market-based solutions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and includes key areas of collaboration and cooperation.

Currently, the only member of this group yet to pass cap and trade legislation is Oregon. This MOU echoes the widespread sentiment that Oregon is well on course to pass their own cap and invest legislation in 2019.

As for Ontario, this MOU is not a surprise coming from the New Democrats Party and Kathleen Wynne. The Ontario cap and trade program has become a political talking point with the Progressive Conservative party promising to repeal the act during their campaigns. Despite these threats, many legal and political experts have explained that pulling out of the cap and trade program could be extremely complicated, expensive, and may lead to a federal carbon tax that would have an even more severe impact on citizens. It would also take years for Ontario to exit the program.

In short, this MOU further indicates the likely and near future scenario of the Western Climate Initiative cap and trade system adding Oregon to the mix of California, Québec, and Ontario.

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Image credit: Flickr/Mark Jensen