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4.12.11: As California gears up to launch an emissions trading scheme in 2012, AB 32, NNR surveys precedents in Europe and in the U.S.

We talk with Eron Bloomgarden, President of Environmental Markets at Equator, LLC, on the EU Emissions Trading System and barriers to passing a U.S. national emissions trading program, and with Jonathan Schrag, Executive Director of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a mandatory carbon market in 10 Northeastern states.

Tags: ab 32, cap and trade, carbon market, carbon trading, CO2, emissions trading, EU ETS, GHGs, greenhouse gas emissions, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI

Proposition 23 is on Tuesday’s ballot in California.  If passed, it will pause the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, AB 32 until state unemployment is down to 5.5 percent for a year. Unemployment is currently 12.4 percent.

AB 32 calls for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a drop of roughly 30 percent.  Supporters of the repeal argue that Prop. 23 will protect jobs by removing taxes on energy and business.  Opponents of Prop 23 insist that the repeal will stall progress on renewable energy and divert investment from the state’s edge on the clean tech industry.

We speak with two Californians about their perspectives on what’s at stake in this vote and with Ben Zycher Senior Fellow at Pacific Research Institute who wrote in support of Prop. 23. We also hear from Erin Rogers of the Union of Concerned Scientists who advocates why voting yes on Prop.23 will set California back.

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Tags: ab 32, clean technology, energy efficiency, energy use, global warming, koch industries, nrdc, oil refinery, pacific research group, proposition 23, tesoro, unemployment, union of concerned scientists, valero