RGGI States Agree to Cut Utility Emissions by Another 30%
View on E&E News website"To address lower-than-expected compliance costs and allowance prices that boost the economy but don't necessarily reduce emissions, the updated program would use a tool called an emissions containment reserve, or ECR. A team of researchers at the nonprofit Resources for the Future had proposed the mechanism, which could continue to reduce emissions even when prices are low (E&E News PM, Aug. 22).
'Today's action demonstrates again that RGGI is a leader in [greenhouse gas] emissions regulation,' RFF researcher Anthony Paul wrote in an email. 'The ECR is a path-breaking innovation in market-based environmental policy design. It brings a sharing of benefits between the environment and the economy.'"
