Quebec joins U.S.-Canada group to cut emissions
Reuters: Friday,  April 18, 2008
By Timothy Gardner

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - A coalition of western U.S. states and Canadian provinces eyeing a regional carbon credit trading market picked up an eastern member on Friday when Quebec said it would join.

Premier Jean Charest said Quebec had joined the Western Climate Initiative while he was meeting at Yale University with U.S. governors who have bypassed the Bush administration to set tough emissions limits on greenhouse gases.

Early last year, the WCI set a group-wide greenhouse gas emissions target of 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

Quebec had been an observer of both the WCI and of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a group of 10 states in the U.S. Northeast that agreed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power plants.

"We're all hydro power, not thermal power," Charest said, regarding why it chose to join the WCI and not RGGI. Quebec derives much of its power from low-carbon hydroelectric sources, so the province joined the WCI, which seeks to cut emissions from economy-wide sources including transportation.

The WCI, spearheaded by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is expected to announce details in August for a regional "cap and trade" market for emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Such markets allow major polluters to comply with caps on their emissions by purchasing offsetting credits from sellers who have not used their total emission allowance.

Quebec's Montreal Exchange wants to host the carbon trading market, and the bourse plans to launch a futures market for Canadian carbon dioxide emissions on May 30, subject to regulatory approval. Charest said joining the WCI would boost trade on that market.

In addition to California, the WCI's members include the U.S. states of Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, and Saskatchewan also have observer status in the WCI, as do Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada and Wyoming, and several Mexican states.

Canada's federal government has said it supports the idea of carbon trading but opposes mandatory caps on emissions. Supporters of carbon trading say the caps are needed for the market to establish proper pricing.

Quebec has said it wants to cut its greenhouse gas emissions between 1.5 percent and 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 but has not legislated absolute targets. The province also has a carbon tax on gasoline.

(Additional reporting by Allan Dowd in Vancouver, editing by Rob Wilson and Matthew Lewis)

04-01-08 NEW REQUIREMENTS TO LOWER GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

NEWS RELEASE: B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources 
April 1, 2008

VICTORIA - The Province is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by establishing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Renewable and Low Carbon Fuel Requirements) Act, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Richard Neufeld announced today.  "The Renewable and Low Carbon Fuel Requirements will reduce the environmental impact of transportation fuels and contribute to a new, low-carbon economy," said Neufeld. "By enabling the government to set new requirements for transportation fuels, this legislation supports B.C.'s goal to lower greenhouse gas emissions 33 per cent by 2020." 

03-11-08  No Region Untouched by Climate Change, Study Show
Bill Curry, The Globe & Mail

OTTAWA -- Climate change is already affecting every region of Canada, according to a major new federal government study that cites specific local examples of the good and bad in a warming nation. A common theme throughout the report is the many ripple effects to come from increasing water scarcities. Hydro power will be harder to come by, while Canada's thirsty neighbours to the south are expected to intensify political pressure for access to northern taps.

10-10-07 Climate Change Council and Governor Release Report
Salt Lake City – Governor Jon Huntsman and the Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change (BRAC) released the Council’s Report on recommended measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Utah.  The report also includes an independent study on the science of climate change and an inventory of Utah’s current greenhouse gas emissions.

09/22/07 States Take Lead on Global Warming
Arizona Republic 
It seems like a fair question: How can one state or two states or even a half dozen states repel a threat whose name, global warming, suggests trouble on a planetary scale? 

The states behind the seven-month-old Western Climate Initiative say they have a better question: If they don't act to protect their residents from the effects of changing climate, who will? 
"The governors are clearly sending a message to Washington that the people in the administration and the people in Congress need to get their act together and show some leadership on this," said Steve Owens, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and co-chairman of the initiative. 

09/13/07 Colorado Climate Action Panel Recommendations: Cut Emissions, Save Money
Press Release – After 10 months of work, the blue-ribbon Climate Action Panel yesterday approved 70 recommendations to reduce Colorado’s contribution and vulnerability to climate change. The recommendations point the way to cut the state’s emissions of heat-trapping gases 37% by 2020, compared to projected levels under current law. Preliminary analysis suggests that taking these steps could save the state a sum that may approach as much as $3 billion between now and 2020. 

“Over 100 leading Coloradans have worked on how we can do our share to protect the climate and keep this such a special place to live,” said Stephen Saunders, president of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. “They’ve identified lots of good ideas that will both reduce emissions and strengthen our economy.” 

The panel approved 55 recommendations to reduce emissions, of which 33 were analyzed quantitatively to estimate their effects on emissions. All but three of those were also analyzed to estimate their costs or cost savings. The analyzed measures were estimated to have a cumulative effect of reducing emissions by about 40 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020, enough by themselves to achieve three quarters of the reductions necessary to meet the 2020 goal. The 30 measures analyzed in terms of their cost effectiveness were estimated to have a total net savings approaching $3 billion between now and 2020, according to preliminary analyses. That is because the most effective way to reduce emissions often is to improve energy efficiency, which both cuts emissions and saves money. 

The recommendations aimed at reducing emissions include: 

• A recommendation that the governor establish a goal for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado. The panel expressed a belief that the goals should be “in the vicinity of” of a 20% reduction in emissions by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050, both compared to 2005 levels. The recommendation for 2020 would amount to a 37% reduction in the state’s emissions projected for that year under current law. If the 2020 goal were achieved, Colorado’s emissions in 2020 would be 93 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, compared to 147 under current law. Some other western states have already set statewide emission goals, including Arizona (45% below projected emissions in 2020), Oregon (44%), New Mexico (33%), California (28%), and Washington (28%).            
• A 50% strengthening of the state’s renewable portfolio standard, so that investor owned utilities would have to get 30% of their power, and municipal and cooperative utilities 15% of theirs, from renewable energy sources. This is estimated to reduce emissions by 5 million metric tons in 2020.            
• Expansion of solid waste reduction, recycling, and composting programs, to reduce emissions by an estimated 4.6 million tons in 2020.           
• Major expansions of utility “demand side management” programs to reduce electricity and natural gas consumption by their customers, estimated to reduce emissions by about 4 million tons in 2020.            
• Adoption of California’s motor vehicle emission standards for new cars and trucks, requiring for the first time that vehicles reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. This is estimated to reduce emissions by 3.4 million tons in 2020.            
• Reductions in emissions of methane (a greenhouse gas) for oil and gas operations, estimated to save 2.6 million tons by 2020. 

The recommendations for adaptation to future climate changes include 14 recommendations that, together, outline a road map for dealing with the projected effects of climate change on the state’s water supplies. Another recommendation is that the state government assess Colorado’s particular vulnerabilities to climate change and developing specific adaptation plans.  

Of the 70 recommendations, 61 were approved unanimously; seven were approved by a super majority, with fewer than five votes against them; and two were approved by a simple majority of the panel. 

The work of the Climate Action Panel was supported and facilitated by the Center for Climate Strategies (www.climatestrategies.org), and patterned after similar efforts in which CCS was involved in other states, including Arizona, New Mexico, and Montana. The Colorado panel is the first such effort in the nation undertaken by a nonprofit organization rather than by a state government. The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization began organizing the Colorado Climate Project two years ago, to develop recommendations to be considered by Colorado’s new governor, General Assembly, local governments, water providers, and others. In his 2006 campaign, Governor Bill Ritter expressed support for the project and as governor has repeated that he looks forward to reviewing the panel’s recommendations. 

The panel’s recommendations will be submitted to the project directors of the Colorado Climate Project, who appointed the panel, once the analysis and write-up of the panel’s decisions is finalized. The project directors will determine on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization whether to accept the recommendations. The recommendations will then be forwarded to the state government, local governments, water providers, and others. 

The Climate Action Panel includes of 34 Coloradans from local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Counting members of the panel and six supporting policy work groups, along with others, 115 Coloradans worked to develop the panel’s recommendations. The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization is a three-year old mainstream coalition whose partners include 16 local governments, Denver Water, 17 businesses, and 10 nonprofit organizations. More information is available at the project web site, www.coloradoclimate.org.   Colorado is an official observer in the Western Climate Initiative.    
                                                                   
08/23/07 Western States Set Regional GHG Reduction Target
LA Times -- Six Western states and two Canadian provinces agreed to slash emissions of greenhouse gases to 15% below 2005 levels over the next 13 years. To achieve their goal, the partners of the Western Climate Initiative, including Democratic and Republican governors, committed to designing a carbon-trading system within a year.

08/08/07 Oregon Governor Signs the State's First Climate Change Legislation
Portland Business Journal -- Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the state's first climate change legislation, which aims to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

08/06/07 Colorado Climate Project Would Bring the State into the Front Ranks
Summit Daily News -- Meeting in Golden to unveil its initial suggestions on reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions, the Colorado Climate Project would bring the state into the front ranks of the fight against climate change. The group will issue a report after a final meeting in September.

07/24/07 Wyoming Governor Demands Federal Support for Clean Coal R&D
Associated Press -- The governor of the nation's top coal-producing state said in a statement that the federal government's commitment to funding research into technology to capture carbon emissions linked to global warming has been woefully inadequate.

07/23/07 Western Governors Demand More Action for Environment
Arizona Republic -- Governors of Rocky Mountain states called on Washington to support "clean coal" development as an economic boon to the West and a new domestic energy source for the country.

07/22/07 States Urged to Adopt Climate Change Policies
Associated Press -- Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a Republican beginning a yearlong term as chairman of the National Governors Association, said the states should redouble efforts to limit carbon emissions and develop renewable energy sources.