Latest Cap-And-Trade Auction Generates Just $8 Million

California’s latest cap-and-trade auction will generate just $8 million, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office. That’s a weaker auction than one in May, which generated $10 million. 

The results of last week’s auction were released Tuesday.

"We know that the last couple of auctions have been not what we wanted them to be," says Democratic Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. "We're trying to let people know that we're dedicated to battling climate change in California and that what this program has done for the economy that it's going continue to do so for quite some time."

Rendon says the auction results will help lawmakers decide how to allocate $1.3 billion dollars of unspent auction proceeds to programs that reduce greenhouse gases. 

“We wanted to make sure that we knew what we were dealing with. We wanted to make sure that the results from last Thursday’s auction that they were included into the equation and now we’re ready to move forward so we’re going to do that as soon as possible," says Rendon.

Auctions held before May of this year have all generated over $500 million dollars.

California requires companies that produce climate-changing pollution to buy pollution permits. They are auctioned quarterly and used to routinely generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the state.