Abbreviation WCI Type Coalition | Formation February 2007 Headquarters (none) | |
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Purpose Reduce global warming and ocean acidification, promote energy efficiency and clean energy investments Membership Current or former partners: Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and QuebecCurrent or former observers: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, Wyoming, Saskatchewan, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas | ||
The Western Climate Initiative, or WCI, was started in February 2007 by the governors of five western U.S. states (AZ, CA, NM, OR, and WA) with the goal of developing a multi-sector, market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Contents
History
The Western Climate Initiative, or WCI, was started in February 2007 by the governors of five western states (AZ, CA, NM, OR, and WA) to evaluate and implement ways to reduce their states's emissions of greenhouse gases and achieve related co-benefits. These states and future participants in the initiative (collectively known as WCI "partners") also committed to set an overall regional goal to reduce emissions (set in August 2007 as 15 percent below 2005 emission levels by 2020), participate in a cross-border greenhouse gas registry to consistently measure and track emissions, and adopt clean tailpipe standards for passenger vehicles. By July 2008, the initiative had expanded to include two more U.S. states (MT and UT) and four Canadian provinces (BC, MB, ON, and QC). Together, these WCI partners comprised 20 percent of U.S. GDP and 76 percent of Canadian GDP.
Goals and design
The most ambitious and controversial objective of the WCI was to develop a multi-sector, market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Detailed design recommendations for a regional cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were released by the WCI in September 2008 and July 2010. By December 2011, California and Quebec adopted regulations based on these recommendations. (The WCI has no regulatory authority of its own.) Key administrative aspects of the regional cap-and-trade program are being implemented in 2012. Power plants, refineries, and other large emitters must comply with the cap in 2013. Other greenhouse gas emission sources, such as suppliers of transportation fuels, must comply with the cap beginning in 2015. Among other things, the Western Climate Initiative lays the foundation for a North American cap-and-trade program, not only in its design and implementation, but in its potential acceptance of greenhouse gas emissions offsets from projects across North America.
Criticisms of WCI
Some observers described the entire project as greenwash designed to avoid committing to the Kyoto Protocol, and cited evidence that much more drastic cuts, up to 40%, could be achieved without affecting investment yield in equities, a good indicator that such cuts would not affect economic prospects in the economy as a whole.
Some watchdogs expressed concerns over why WCI was set up in the state of Delaware as an anonymous shell company that would evade public scrutiny.
The CEO of CARB James Goldstene, is also listed as the Chairman of the Board of WCI Inc. and the head of the auction oversight group. - See more at: http://calwatchdog.com/2012/10/23/cap-and-trade-manipulation-leads-to-wci-inc/#sthash.g9zrPDbB.dpuf
Partners vs. observers
Several U.S. partners, although active participants in the design of the program, announced in 2010 that they would either delay or not implement the program in their jurisdictions. The partnership was therefore streamlined to include only California and the four Canadian provinces actively working to implement the program. As of January 2012, regulations have not been issued by British Columbia, Manitoba, or Ontario, although a carbon tax in British Columbia will be increasing to $30/tonne of CO2 equivalents in July 2012. Several WCI partners also remain active in the International Carbon Action Partnership, an international coordinating body for several such regional carbon trading bodies.
Alberta and Saskatchewan object to cap-and-trade and in July 2008 called WCI's plan a "cash grab by some of Canada's resource-poor provinces." However, Alberta has legislated a small restricted carbon charge of its own. The objections seem to be more related to the reporting and disclosure requirements that would be much higher for a North American project than for one based strictly in Alberta. Monitoring of the carbon-intensive oil sands, for instance, is inadequate according even to Alberta's own government. Industry funding to other independent monitoring was also cut. Some of the states that withdrew by late 2011 also intended to develop oil shale, hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and coal resources that would have broad impacts beyond climate on water, including more ocean acidification.
Until late 2011, the initiative included two types of participants: partners and observers.
For several years, the partners were the U.S. states of California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. All states except California withdrew in 2011. See below re membership.
The observers included at various times Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, Wyoming, the province of Saskatchewan (which objects to WCI plans for a cap and trade system), and the Mexican states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas.
Membership changes
As of December 2011, the remaining WCI members are California and the Canadian provinces British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.