The numbers are in: Washington's carbon credit auction raised nearly $300M
Washington state's first ever carbon credit auction raised nearly $300 million, according to the Department of Ecology.
This is the first year Washington has implemented its new cap-and-invest program. The first auction for those credits was held in February.
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Major polluters in the state cannot surpass a certain pollution amount, unless they buy credits to offset their emissions.
The first auction was highly competitive. A total of six million credits were sold. The final auction price reached $48.50 per ton of carbon dioxide. Added up, the total comes to $299,983,267.
The proceeds go toward funding climate mitigation programs and clean energy projects. The Department of Ecology notes that how exactly the money is used is "subject to appropriation by the Legislature."
Dyer Oxley contributed to this blog post.
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Paige Browning
Newscaster
Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
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