On January 1st my homestate of California launched its long-awaited cap-and-trade program, establishing a limit on greenhouse-gas emissions.  These limits are slowly reduced over time, meaning that at some point the emissions should reach levels from two decades ago.  Its an exciting and important moment for carbon programs, like REDD+, not only because of the California factor (The US’s most populous state and the ninth biggest economy in the world) but because other states may follow suit, assuming of course that things pan out correctly.  “California is a big economy, and it is very diverse, like the U.S. as a whole,” says Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which is overseeing the cap-and-trade system. “If it can work in California, it can work in the U.S.”

Assuming other jurisdictions will participate in offset generation, we could see an impact on conservation efforts and reforestation in Latin America.  There’s quite a bit of work ahead, with many actors, but so far there seems to be pointed-effort.  A recent article published in ‘Ecosystem Marketplace‘, discusses the California REDD program which seeks to bring international REDD+ credits to the state’s program:

Link to article