Cap & Trade success

Cap & Trade was first used to tackle the Acid Rain problem afflicting North America in the 1980s; a cursory Google of this will lead to many reports, all of which are quite old as the program ended ten years ago. This link to a Harvard report is as good as any I can find. The headline is as follows: in the program’s 20-year life, an 80% reduction in sulphur dioxide was achieved versus a 50% target and at one quarter of the anticipated cost. That, by anyone’s measure is a great success and it explains why Cap & Trade was chosen as the preferred route to try to tackle the far larger issue of global warming.

The US East Coast emission trading system celebrated its 10th anniversary a couple of years back; here is a link to a report reviewing the first decade of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The highlights in the Exec Summary are impressive.

Also a one pager reviewing the health and climate benefits achieved from the California Cap & Trade ETS system (there is a longer report available if interested).

A link to one of many articles explaining how Cap & Trade is forcing coal out in Europe.