BC Builds Climate Action Partnerships Through ICAP

Submitted by Danielle Jarvis.

On October 29, 2007 Premier Gordon Campbell signed on to the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) on behalf of British Columbia at a summit in Lisbon, Portugal. ICAP is a new international forum in which governments and public authorities that have established or are actively pursing mandatory greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade systems will share experiences and best practices on the design and functioning of emissions trading schemes. The other founding members of ICAP include the other members of the Western Climate Initiative (Arizona, California, Manitoba, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington), the Northeastern U.S. members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York), New Zealand, Norway, the European Commission and the following EU Member States: UK, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, France and the Netherlands.
ICAP’s role is to open the lines of communication in order to contribute to the establishment of a well-functioning global cap and trade carbon market. To that end, ICAP will serve as a forum for collaboration between its members in order to develop carbon markets and assist with future linking of emissions trading schemes. This role does not supplant the UN process, but rather works to support the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) climate change goals.
By signing on to ICAP, Premier Campbell is signalling that BC wants to play a pivotal role in the process of developing a functional regional carbon market, one which will integrate well within a global emissions trading system. As Campbell noted, such a global system “will boost demand for low-carbon products and services and drive innovation as the entire world looks for efficient, cost-effective ways to cut carbon emissions.”