The CCA is bringing real opportunity and progress to Washington State.

Since Carbon Washington was founded almost ten years ago, we have been a champion of carbon pricing. To avoid the worst consequences of climate change, our energy-based economy needs to transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy. Carbon pricing introduces the true cost of greenhouse gas pollution into products and services. This means the countless choices that consumers and businesses make each day will steer us towards clean energy and a healthier future for all.  

The vast majority of economists agree that carbon pricing is the best way for humanity to address climate change. 

In 2021, after several attempts to pass carbon pricing in Washington State, a broad coalition of citizens, businesses, legislators and Governor Jay Inslee worked together to pass the Climate Commitment Act (CCA), also known as Cap and Invest. Today, Cap and Invest is Washington State’s flagship climate policy and is far and away our best chance to reduce emissions for all Washingtonians equitably, efficiently and effectively. 

The Cap and Invest program is now under attack by entrenched industries and special interests that continue to rely on and profit from fossil fuels. Recently, opponents of the Climate Commitment Act gathered enough signatures to try to repeal it. It’s almost certain this effort to repeal Cap and Invest will be on the ballot in November 2024. For any of us who care about the future for our children and grandchildren, we cannot let this opposition, led by the fossil fuel industry, send us backwards. The consequences would be devastating.  

The Climate Commitment Act is working.  

Washington State is a leader in climate policy. It is the second state in the country to pass economy-wide carbon pricing. Under the Climate Commitment Act, 2023 was the first year in which polluters in Washington were required to purchase allowances at auction to continue to pollute. These allowances are the “cap,” and the available allowances will reduce in number over time.

Washington State emissions cap.  (Credit: Washington Department of Ecology)

The significant proceeds from Washington’s Cap and Invest auctions benefit all Washingtonians, especially those who are trying to switch from fossil fuels to clean energy technologies.

Switching to clean energy is critical to reduce the worst consequences of climate change, which include unprecedented heat waves, fires, droughts, floods, sea level rise, extreme weather events, species extinction, and irreversible tipping points. Clean energy will also reduce negative health impacts caused by fossil fuel combustion such as asthma, other respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular disease. 

Solar installer on roof (Credit: Green MPs)

The Cap and Invest auction proceeds must, by law, be invested in projects that reduce GHG emissions or fund climate resilience and adaptation. At present, there are roughly 374 investments planned. Over $2B will be invested in carbon reduction projects across our state in the next two years. This will accelerate Washington's transition to clean power, transportation, buildings, and industry.  And everyone will make the transition with much of the investment dedicated to overburdened communities, including assisting lower income folks with utility bills and home retrofits.   

CCA investments are economy-wide and will help hard-to-decarbonize sectors like agriculture reduce emissions and increase sequestration. For instance, $30M is earmarked to help farmers and livestock owners reduce methane emissions and transition to state-of-the-art manure management. When dairy farmers and other livestock operators spread more manure than the ground can absorb, groundwater is contaminated and leads downstream to shellfish closures . According to Bill Taylor of Taylor Shellfish, the grants made possible by the Climate Commitment Act, through the Sustainable Farms and Fields program, will help decrease this runoff and help them keep shellfish healthy.

Planting soybeans into corn residue and wild mustard using a no-till planter. (Credit: NRCS photos by Brandon O’Connor)

These investments in reduced emissions, increased sequestration, clean energy, adaptation, and resilience for all Washingtonians are possible because of the proceeds from the Climate Commitment Act. Cap and Invest is working. It’s creating opportunity. It’s creating hope. It’s accelerating Washington State’s transition to clean energy.

The fossil fuel industry is trying to dismantle the CCA

Even as the CCA creates opportunities and tangible benefits for Washingtonians, the fossil fuel industry knows it is a threat to their business as usual. The CCA is designed to reduce the use of fossil fuel. The industry wants to stop this and is now pouring millions, funded by record fossil fuel profits, into a campaign to dismantle the CCA. The initiatives they have sponsored to repeal, dismantle, and prohibit carbon pricing in Washington State are likely to appear on the November 2024 ballot.

This opposition effort is led by the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) even though they claim on their website to support cap and trade. They were given major concessions when the CCA was passed in 2021. For example, all of their oil import and refinery operations in Washington State were made exempt until 2035.  And yet they still attack the CCA through shadow organizations like Affordable Fuel Washington, making far fetched claims and blaming Cap and Invest for the high price of gas.  

Last year, the oil giants who are members of WSPA made more revenue and profit than they ever have in history. Fossil fuel companies set the price of gas. To be clear, the CCA doesn’t set a price for gasoline or any other product. Under the CCA the price of an allowance to pollute is determined at auction – the higher the demand to pollute, the higher the allowance price. So far, in 2023, the auction price per ton of CO2e in Washington has ranged from $48.50 to $66.68 per ton of CO2e. These allowance prices are well below the EPA’s estimated social cost of carbon which ranges from $120-$340. Washington State’s polluters are still paying well below the true cost of pollution, even as they set the price of polluting products like gasoline and reap record profits.  

The opposition to the Cap and Invest program is driven by short-term self interest, and uses misinformation and delay tactics shamelessly. Sticking to a fossil fuel economy comes with enormous costs. Across the US in 2022, damages from climate-related disasters totaled $165.1 billion. The costliest 2022 events were Hurricane Ian ($112.9 billion) and the Western and Central Drought / Heat Wave ($22.1 billion). Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 341 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs of each disaster reached or exceeded $1 billion. All together, the cumulative cost of these 341 events exceeds $2.475 trillion.  In human terms, this means lives lost, homes lost, communities fractured, and livelihoods destroyed.  We cannot let the fossil fuel industry dismantle the CCA.

We need to keep moving forward.  

Washington State needs to be focused on making true progress on reducing GHG emissions. We can’t let delays and deception undermine what we have accomplished. There will be opportunities to improve the Climate Commitment Act, and Carbon Washington, along with our partners and supporters, will be working to make it better.  But, today, the Climate Commitment Act is the best vehicle Washington has for reaching a clean energy future.  We at Carbon Washington support it 100% and hope you do too.