Update On California's Climate Change Programs And Litigation

Compliance Offset Credits. Under California's cap-and-trade program, the California Air Resource Board ("CARB") awards offset credits to operators of qualifying projects that generate greenhouse gas ("GHG") emission reductions. These credits can be sold to regulated entities to offset their GHG emissions. In Our Children's Earth Foundation v. CARB, the plaintiff environmental organizations allege that CARB's compliance offset protocols—which establish the eligibility criteria for offsets—fail to ensure that qualifying projects generate additional GHG emission reductions that otherwise would not have occurred, as required by statute. The California Court of Appeal heard arguments on December 9, 2014, and will decide whether to overturn the lower court's ruling that the protocols comply with the statute.