Oregon’s House Bill 2020: A Model for the Future of Cap-and-Trade?

In February 2019, lawmakers in Oregon introduced House Bill 2020 that would make Oregon the second state to have an economy-wide cap-and-trade system. The basic premise of a cap-and-trade system is a cap is set on the total carbon emissions of an area; in this case, the state of Oregon. This total allotment of carbon emissions is then divided up into permits. Each company that produces emissions above a certain threshold is required to purchase these permits. The allotment of carbon emissions usually decreases over time resulting in a decrease in the number of permits. This hopefully promotes...