Ontario joins California’s market to sell pollution credits

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California’s market for buying and trading permits to emit carbon pollution is expanding to include the province of Ontario.

The market is the centerpiece of California’s cap-and-trade program, which aims to reduce carbon pollution over time by capping emissions and requiring companies to obtain permits to pollute. Quebec is already part of the market.

California Gov. Jerry Brown finalized the agreement Friday in Canada following a weeklong visit to the East Coast to promote California’s climate change-fighting policies. He’s also touting a 15-state alliance to achieve the goals of the international Paris Climate Agreement despite President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw.

Linking the markets means companies in all three states and provinces can trade carbon allowances and offsets, which allow them to pollute if they commit to reducing carbon elsewhere.