Green groups push Northeast states to update regional carbon market

A coalition of environmental groups is making the first move to apply organized pressure on 10 Eastern states to set new climate goals for a regional carbon market and provide a status update on a review of the program that is more than 18 months overdue.

Details: The groups will say in new letters, led by Acadia Center and set to be released on Wednesday, that they “have grown increasingly concerned with the lack of communication and engagement” from the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

RGGI members are engaged in their third program review, with the first concluding in 2013 and the second in 2017. They have reduced power sector emissions by 50 percent and generated $7 billion since 2005, according to the program.

The review will weigh comments like a proposal from Acadia Center, an environmental nonprofit, calling for mandated spending on alleviating pollution and air quality monitoring in overburdened communities. The letter also urges states to lower the threshold for electric-generating units and set an emissions cap that lowers to zero by 2040.

What’s next: While there is no updated timeline for the program review, the groups wrote that they hope states will provide clarity “in the days ahead.”

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