California, Québec, and Washington to begin linkage agreement discussions

OLYMPIA, WA  – 

The California Air Resources Board on behalf of the state of California, the Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs on behalf of the Province of Québec, and the Department of Ecology on behalf of the state of Washington are issuing the following statement to update the public on our progress towards forming a shared carbon market, also known as “linkage”:

We believe linkage will strengthen our respective efforts to fight climate change and reduce air pollution, while also encouraging more governments to adopt scalable, market-based climate policies in the future. We will continue sharing information and collaborating in pursuit of linkage and these shared goals.  

California and Québec have operated a linked carbon market since 2014. The Climate Commitment Act directed the Department of Ecology to explore linking Washington’s Cap-and-Invest carbon market with other jurisdictions, and Washington made the decision to pursue linkage with the California-Québec market last year.  

Washington is currently engaged in a rulemaking process to align certain Cap-and-Invest program regulations with California and Québec to ensure our markets can jointly operate. Washington must complete several other steps required by law before finalizing and signing a linkage agreement: an Environmental Justice Assessment, a final evaluation of the linkage criteria in the Climate Commitment Act and seeking public input.   

California and Québec are currently considering amendments to their respective Cap-and-Trade program regulations to ensure the achievement of their 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and subsequent carbon neutrality goals. Following this process, California and Québec can take steps toward linking with Washington, including making regulatory changes that would allow them to recognize compliance instruments from Washington. For California, the linkage process also includes ensuring that linkage with Washington meets the requirements of California Senate Bill 1018.    

We intend to begin formally discussing a potential linkage agreement alongside the completion of California and Québec’s current Cap-and-Trade regulatory updates and subsequent linkage evaluation process. Given the steps each jurisdiction needs to take, the soonest we can reasonably expect to finalize a linkage agreement is late 2025, one of several steps that would allow us to link programs. 

Climate change is an accelerating crisis that demands international cooperation. We hope our efforts will strengthen the global community’s commitment to take action, including sending the necessary market signals for the private sector to invest and innovate in zero-carbon technologies and energy.