California Governor Gavin Newsom announced formal authorization on September 23, 2026, to link California’s cap-and-invest carbon market with Washington state, marking the penultimate regulatory milestone in creating a unified North American emissions trading bloc.
Under California statutes governing market expansion, the governor must formally certify that an external jurisdiction enforces an equivalent emissions cap, maintains rigorous monitoring protocols, and prevents jurisdictional leakage before regulators can merge compliance pools.
By integrating with California and Québec, Washington’s compliance entities will enter a market pool possessing roughly six times the volume and trading depth.
Subnational Coalition Building Against Federal Policy Shifts The coordinated expansion of the West Coast carbon market also serves an explicit political purpose, establishing an insulated regional policy framework capable of withstanding federal environmental rollbacks.
The Department of Ecology incorporated specific guardrails into the linkage rules to ensure that integrating with California does not dilute environmental equity commitments established by Washington lawmakers.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom authorizes linking California and Washington carbon markets as Washington Ecology adopts final administrative rules, paving the way for joint 2027 emissions auctions.