2018 could result in wave of West Coast carbon pricing
By Gregory Suggs, Reuters.
SEATTLE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - If elected officials get their way, the entire West Coast of North America could be putting a price on pollution by the end of this year.
As state legislature sessions opened this month, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee called for a carbon tax and Oregon legislators proposed a “cap and invest” system.
Both policies are designed to make industrial emitters of carbon dioxide pay some of the costs of damage caused by growing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and to create incentives for them to reduce emissions.
Carbon dioxide emissions are one of the major drivers of human-caused climate change.