The Climate Commitment Act: A Promise to Washington's Communities

Washington’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) goes into effect on January 1, 2023. This marks an important moment, but the work isn’t over yet!

When it was just a bill, we worked alongside many partners and legislative champions advocating for the CCA to be as strong and equitable as possible. As the law takes effect this winter, we all — including you! — can continue to speak up to help it live up to its promise to communities across our state.

The Basics

The CCA provides three key pathways to meet our state’s goal of Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050: 

  • A greenhouse gas reduction program that puts a declining cap on emissions

  • An expanded statewide air quality program with new monitoring and enforcement mechanisms

  • More than $7 billion in revenue for new green infrastructure and climate resilience measures

REDUCING EMISSIONS

The Cap & Invest program puts a declining cap on the emissions big businesses operating in Washington are allowed to emit each year. These businesses can buy or trade credits to exceed the cap temporarily, while working toward the same Net Zero goal by 2050. This program will raise revenue through the use of allowances, with limited flexibility for the use of both allowances and offsets.

What are allowances + offsets?

1 allowance = 1 metric ton of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Businesses that emit 25,000 tons or more of GHGs annually must bid to purchase allowances at state auctions in order to operate in Washington. They can face significant daily penalties for violations. The number of allowances available for auction declines each year toward the goal of Net Zero by 2050.

An offset is a reduction in GHG emissions – or an increase in carbon storage (e.g.,through land restoration or the planting of trees) – that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere. An offset credit is certified by independent authorities to represent an emission reduction of one metric ton of CO2.

HELPING OUR COMMUNITIES BREATHE EASIER

A key critique of California's Cap & Trade program has been that it hasn’t reduced health-harming criteria pollutants, including carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulates. To address this concern in Washington, the CCA includes a more expansive air quality program that covers all permitted and unregulated sources of emissions, not just the largest emitters. With a special emphasis on overburdened communities, the CCA’s air quality program will:

  • Identify all communities overburdened by air pollution in Washington state

  • Expand and improve the air monitoring network statewide

  • Set air quality goals for these overburdened communities

  • Conduct regular analysis to ensure air quality compliance  

  • Give the Dept. of Ecology the power to enforce air quality standards against polluters

Exposure to health-harming pollution varies widely among Seattle’s neighborhoods. For more, see the Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map.

What are overburdened communities?

In state law, overburdened communities are defined as a geographic area where people are exposed to environmental pollutants or contaminants through multiple pathways, which may result in significant adverse health outcomes or effects.

Putting the “Invest” in “Cap & Invest”

Electric buses mean cleaner air for commuters and communities. Photo by Courtney Baxter/TNC.

By 2037, the CCA’s Cap & Invest emissions reduction credit program will create an estimated $7 billion or more in revenue that the state must explicitly use for green infrastructure, public transit, electrification, and other climate resiliency investments. Of this money:

  • $5.2 billion must go toward emissions reductions (i.e. public transit/electrification funding)

  • The rest — $2 billion or more — will go toward climate resilience investments, including those meant to help ensure a just, equitable transition to a clean energy economy. One quarter (25%) of this resilience funding will go toward natural climate solutions like green infrastructure.

Additionally, each biennium, the CCA will provide:

  • $20 million for improving air quality

  • $5 million for Tribal offset project development

  • $10 million for forest & agricultural riparian easements

  • $50 million for Tribal mitigation & adaptation projects

Want to get involved in shaping this law?

The Department of Ecology is currently shaping the air quality program in the CCA -- including soliciting comments from the public. You and your neighbors are invited to submit recommendations for the program directly to Ecology staff, who will take them into consideration as they finalize elements of the program. 

You can help Ecology define the indicators they’ll use to identify overburdened communities, choose the types of air monitors they’ll deploy, and understand how your community would like to see air quality improved. Click the button below to learn more and comment before November 10th.

Banner photo by Courtney Baxter/TNC.