Cap and Trade in North America

That's right, the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) has announced plans (here, here, and here) to develop cap and trade policies to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While the EU has had a similar system in place since 2005 (see the EU Emission Trading Scheme), conservative administrations in Canada and the US have shown no interest in establishing meaningful environmental legislation.

Where federal governments have failed, state and city leaders have been able to enact the Kyoto Accord in their domains (e.g., US Mayors Climate Protection Initiative), and in February 2007 the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) was launched. Originally a collaboration between the governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington states, the Initiative now includes Utah, Montana, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba. Six US states, six Mexican states, and three Canadian provinces are listed with "observer" status. Hopefully the BC program will get up and running before the next (Democratic) president takes office to prove that these systems are not strictly a detriment to economic development (in case the EU's growth over the last three years wasn't enough). However, some of the limitations of the plan (here) suggest this may not be the case.