10 U.S. States Join International Carbon Action Partnership

Oct 29: A coalition of European countries, U.S. states, Canadian provinces, New Zealand and Norway announced the formation of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) to fight global warming. ICAP will provide an international forum in which governments and public authorities adopting mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cap and trade systems will share experiences and best practices on the design of emissions trading schemes. According to a release, the cooperative effort will ensure that the programs are more compatible and are able to work together as the foundation of a global carbon market. Such a market will boost demand for low-carbon products and services, promote innovation, and allow cost effective reductions so as to allow swift and ambitious global reductions in global warming emissions.

The ground-breaking international and interregional agreement was signed by U.S. and Canadian members of the Western Climate Initiative [Arizona, British Columbia, California, Manitoba, New Mexico, Oregon, & Washington], northeastern U.S. members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative [Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, & New York], as well as European members including the European Commission, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain & United Kingdom. New Zealand and Norway joined on behalf of their emissions trading programs.

Leaders attending the summit included: President José Sócrates, Council of the European Union and Prime Minister of Portugal; European Commission President José Manuel Barroso; Governor Jon Corzine, New Jersey; Governor Eliot Spitzer, New York and Premier Gordon Campbell, British Columbia. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, participated with video messages.

ICAP said it will open lines of communication for sharing valuable information, such as research, effective policy initiatives, lessons learned and new developments. By working together to establish similar design principles, ICAP partners are ensuring that future market systems, in conjunction with regulation in the form of enforceable caps, will boost worldwide demand for low-carbon products and services, provide a larger market for innovators, and achieve global emissions reductions at the swiftest pace and lowest cost possible. The new partnership supports the current ongoing efforts undertaken under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which all ICAP members agree has a central role in fighting global warming.

Access a release (click here). Access the ICAP Declaration (click here). Access a webcast of the launch event (click here). Access an audio from U.S. Governor's Conference call with U.S. Press (click here, .wav format). Access the ICAP website (click here). [*Climate]