Washington and Quebec join California in signing carbon‑market linkage; governor, ecology director sign agreement

Seattle — Washington Governor Bob Ferguson and Casey Sixkiller, director of the Washington State Department of Ecology, signed a linkage agreement on behalf of the state with California and Quebec to combine their cap‑and‑invest carbon markets.

"Today, of course, we're signing Washington's carbon market linkage agreement with California and Quebec," Governor Bob Ferguson said at the May press event, calling the pact a "historic milestone" that will strengthen market stability and support long‑term investments to reduce greenhouse gases. He said the linked market is expected to come online in 2027.

Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller described a four‑year technical effort to harmonize systems across jurisdictions and said a larger joint market can be more stable and predictable, spur innovation and generate revenue to be reinvested in Washington communities. "By creating a larger market, we create a more stable, predictable carbon market that helps to reduce emissions, spurs innovation, and ensures that we continue to generate revenue that can be reinvested in communities across Washington state," Sixkiller said.

David Ruiz, delegate for the Government of Quebec, said the three‑jurisdiction market will be the world's largest subnational carbon market when operational and cited Quebec's experience. Ruiz said Quebec's market has generated "more than $11,000,000,000" since 2013 that the province has reinvested in transition projects.

Representative Joe Fitzgibbon, House majority leader, highlighted the Climate Commitment Act (CCA), saying the law established a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions, directs proceeds to transportation, wildfire prevention and air‑quality work, and currently regulates 96 entities in Washington. Fitzgibbon said linkage should lower allowance prices for covered entities because the joint California–Quebec market historically has had lower auction prices than Washington's alone, though he declined to quantify a specific effect on pump prices.

Labor leaders and environmental advocates emphasized economic and health benefits. Cassie Bordelon, speaking for union workers, said a report projects more than $9,000,000,000 in economic output and over 45,000 jobs in eight years as the program ramps up. Leah Missick, Washington legislative director at Climate Solutions, noted that "in the first 5 or the first 3 years of Washington's program, we've raised nearly $5,000,000,000," a figure she cited from program experience while cautioning that auction proceeds will decline as emissions fall and therefore need to be invested strategically.

During a brief question‑and‑answer session, reporters pressed officials on the program's impact on consumer fuel prices. A reporter asked for calculations on pump‑price increases tied to cap‑and‑trade and how linkage would affect those increases. Fitzgibbon responded that compliance costs are imposed on fuel suppliers and may be passed on to consumers, and that the expectation is linkage will lower allowance prices for the 96 covered entities, but he said market clearing prices will ultimately be set by supply and demand and declined to offer a precise forecast.

Governor Ferguson rejected calls to pause the CCA despite recent attention to gasoline prices, saying the program was approved by voters and that national policies have driven recent price increases. "The voters decided," Ferguson said, adding that about 62 percent supported the measure in prior votes.

The signing took place at a table with officials from all three jurisdictions on hand for photographs. Attendees included former Governor Jay Inslee and Quebec delegates including an assistant deputy minister and the province's minister of environment, who signed for Quebec. Officials said the technical/legal protocol required the head of the Department of Ecology to sign on Washington's behalf.

No formal vote was taken at the event; the signing recorded the jurisdictions' agreement to proceed with linkage and officials said further technical and administrative steps remain before auctions begin. Officials reiterated an expected operational date of 2027 and said they will continue public engagement as systems are harmonized across jurisdictions.