Viewpoint: States tackle transportation emissions

A new carbon market will emerge in the northeast US in the new year as nine states and the District of Columbia flesh out a program designed to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector.

The coalition, which boasts Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, DC, will develop the program through 2019, in hopes of each adopting the final plan soon thereafter.

If successful, it would be the first regional carbon pricing program to address GHG emissions from cars and trucks and could exceed the California GHG emissions market in size.

The transportation sectors in the participating jurisdictions collectively accounted for more than 251mn metric tonnes of emissions in 2015, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Most of those emissions are likely to covered by the new program.

California's transportation sector emissions totaled 169mn t in 2016, with about 155mn t coming from the main users of gasoline and diesel fuel, passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks.

And while there are no concrete details about the northeast program, the fact that the participating states are nearly all current or future members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade program for power sector emissions, could indicate its ultimate structure.

"There is reason to believe that these states will build on existing precedent where they can," said Jordan Stutt, carbon programs director at US energy policy think tank the Acadia Center. "Given the familiarity with RGGI in this region, I think they will draw on that experience as much as possible."

California and Quebec, both of which cover the use of gasoline and diesel fuel in their cap-and-trade systems, are other likely models for the program.

All of the participants are members of the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), a collection of northeast and mid-Atlantic states that has been exploring ways to reduce emissions from the transportation sector.

But one TCI member state is noticeably missing - New York.

New York's transportation sector GHG emissions totaled about 73mn t in 2015, including 60.6mn t from the use of gasoline and diesel, according to state data. Of the states participating in the market design, Pennsylvania comes closest to matching New York, with its transportation sector responsible for 59.5mn t in the same year.

New York's absence is not immediately explicable – especially in light of governor Andrew Cuomo's (D) typically bullish attitude on measures designed to fight climate change – and has drawn attention from environmental groups.

"If [Cuomo's] serious about climate action, then New York must join this groundbreaking commitment without delay," Natural Resources Defense Council senior director Kit Kennedy said.

New York could link with the program in the near future. State official say they intend to continue to work with other states on the issue.

Other candidates to join include the remaining TCI members, New Hampshire and Maine, which also have been involved in RGGI. New Hampshire says it is monitoring the development of the new program, while Maine is about to inaugurate a new governor, Janet Mills (D), who may favor joining.

The program could even spread beyond current TCI members once it is implemented and its effects become evident.