Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

Washington conducts first sales under its new state greenhouse gas cap-and-invest program

Posted by Jon Elliott on Mon, Mar 20, 2023

The Washington state Department of Ecology (Ecology) has just conducted its first auction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission allowances, under the state’s Climate Commitment Act (or CCA) which establishes a comprehensive, market-based program to reduce carbon pollution and achieve greenhouse gas limits set in state law. The CCA was one of a package of climate-related laws passed in 2021, including the Clean Fuel Standard, and an expanded hydrofluorocarbons management program. The remainder of this note discusses CCA and the recent sale of GHG allowances.

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Tags: Greenhouse Gas, ghg, greenhouse, CO2 Emissions, Washington, CCA

Proposal to Require Climate Risks and Resilience Plans from Significant Federal Suppliers

Posted by Jon Elliott on Mon, Nov 28, 2022

On November 10, the Biden Administration announced a proposal to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to require “major federal suppliers” and “significant federal suppliers” to disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and assessments of climate-related risks, and to set targets for GHG emission reductions. The rest of this note summarizes this proposal.

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Tags: Environmental, Greenhouse Gas, ghg, CO2 Emissions, Environment, Environmental Policy, Climate, FAR, NASA, DOD

EPA releases data from latest mandatory greenhouse gas emission reports

Posted by Jon Elliott on Fri, Nov 18, 2022

For over a decade, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has required thousands of facilities and organizations to report annual emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) (40 CFR part 98). The most recent reports were due in April 2022, covering 2021 emissions from more than 8,000 entities (I summarized these requirements HERE https://blog.stpub.com/mandatory-ghg-epa-reports-due-april-1-2022). EPA has now published summary compilations of these data, showing an overall 4% increase in emissions compared with 2020. EPA attributes the increases to economic expansion coming out of the COVID-induced downturn, and reminds readers that reported emissions are generally lower than in those first reported for 2010-2011.

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Tags: Environmental risks, Environmental, Greenhouse Gas, CO2 Emissions, Environmental Policy

US tightens federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles

Posted by Jon Elliott on Mon, Jan 24, 2022

During the last decade, federal state authorities have sparred with themselves and with states over regulatory standards limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from automobiles. Nationally, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) share authority over fleetwide and individual vehicle standards. EPA applies authority under the Clean Air act (CAA) and NHTSA applies authority under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) including Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards. In addition, the state of California has unique CAA authority over vehicle emission; in recent years, Democratic presidential administrations generally produce federal-state cooperation, whereas Republican presidential administrations produce conflicts. (I’ve written about these issues several times, most recently HERE). True to this pattern, on December 21, 2021 EPA issued tighter vehicle emission rules covering Model Years (MY) 2023 through 2026, and NHTSA rescinded its (Trump era) rule preempting California’s stricter GHG emission standards. The remainder of this note discusses these new rules, within the context of ongoing rulemakings.

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Tags: Environmental, Greenhouse Gas, ghg, CO2 Emissions

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative prepares to add a new member

Posted by Jon Elliott on Wed, Aug 05, 2020

One of the longest running sub-national greenhouse gas (GHG) control efforts in the U.S. has been the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program. RGGI provides a cap-and-trade program covering GHG emissions from targeted fossil fuel power plants in participating northeastern states. The program is preparing to add a new participating state in 2021 -- Virginia.

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Tags: Environmental, Greenhouse Gas, ghg, RGGI, Fossil Fuel, CO2 Emissions