California needs to increase the cost of carbon pollution permits in its cap-and-trade program after the latest public sale produced dismal results, a climate activist group says.
The price of pollution permits sold at the latest auction Feb. 18 was $27.94 per permit, according to auction results released Wednesday. That’s the minimum price at which California regulators allow permits to be sold and means that the state will have less money for environmental programs than if the price were higher.
The Climate Reality Project chapter in the Silicon Valley flagged the issue of the floor price in a comment on draft rules for updating the market.
Increasing the minimum price set by the California Air Resources Board would lead to more greenhouse gas cuts and raise additional money for state-funded climate priorities, said Ken Johnson, policy advocate at the Silicon Valley Chapter.
