Washington emissions cuts are starting this month

Washington’s Climate Commitment Act and Clean Fuel Standard, both designed to reduce the release of greenhouse gases over the coming decades, are being implemented this month.

The market-based approaches to reducing carbon emissions were both approved by the legislature in 2021. For the past 18 months, officials at the Washington Department of Ecology have been writing rules and building the bureaucratic infrastructure for the programs.

Gov. Jay Inslee praised the work Wednesday at a news conference.

“This is a really joyous day for me personally and for the state of Washington,” he said. “We have moved, after 10 years of discussion and planning and consideration, to the action phase of building a clean energy economy in the state of Washington to really defeat this beast of climate change that we know is doing so much damage to our beautiful state.”

He called the programs comprehensive, realistic and achievable.

“They’re well thought out. And now, we’ve actually pushed the Go button to get them going on Jan. 1.”

The Climate Commitment Act will place a cap on the amount of pollution that businesses like oil refineries and fossil fuel-based utilities can release. Those that can’t meet the cap will have to purchase “allowances” at auction.

“The money raised in the auctions is going to be reinvested in the state,” said Laura Watson, Ecology Department director. “So it’s going to support further emission reductions, advanced climate resiliency and improve air quality and those communities that today are already overburdened by air pollution.”

The cap, which applies to entities that release more than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, will be lowered over time, providing motivation for polluters to reduce emissions.

The auctions will be held quarterly, with the first happening late next month. About 6 million allowances will be available at the initial auction and are expected to cost between $22 and $81.

The Clean Fuel standard requires importers and makers of transportation fuel to lower the carbon intensity of fuels including gasoline, diesel, and electricity used to power electric vehicles. It, too, will become more restrictive over time. The program aims to reduce emissions from transportation 20%, or 4.3 million metric tons per year, by 2034. Watson said that is equivalent to taking 900,000 internal combustion engine vehicles off the road.

Fuel suppliers that reduce the carbon intensity of their products — making their fuels cleaner — will accrue credits. Those that can’t or don’t will incur deficits and be required to purchase credits to meet emission limits.

The program applies to suppliers of fuel but users can join voluntarily. Fuel users, such as businesses that operate large vehicle fleets and are able to reduce their emissions, can also earn credits.

According to an independent analysis commissioned by the state, the clean fuel standard is expected to raise the retail price of fuel less than a penny this year, four cents in 2025 and 20 cents by 2031. Price increases are expected to decline after that point, according to the analysis.

Carbon intensity can be reduced by mixing biofuels such as ethanol into carbon-based fuels. Oregon, California and British Columbia, Canada, have previously adopted clean fuel standard.

“We have been able to learn a lot from their methodologies,” said Abbey Brown, technical lead for the clean fuels program at the Department of Ecology. “They have put in place really great systems we are going to use to account for carbon intensity and also verify information provided to use from fuel providers.”

More information is available at ecology.wa.gov/Air-Climate.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.