Keeping the Lights on in the State Laboratory

The document argues that for a federal cap-and-trade program in the United States to maintain state-level climate innovation, it must account for state-achieved emission reductions by retiring federal greenhouse gas emission allowances. Without this mechanism, state actions would simply free up allowances for use in other states, creating a 'leakage' effect that results in no net environmental benefit.

• To ensure that state-level climate policies continue to drive innovation and emission reductions after the implementation of a federal cap-and-trade program, the federal system must account for these reductions by retiring federal greenhouse gas emission allowances, making them unavailable for trading or future use.
• Failure to retire allowances to reflect state-level reductions leads to 'emissions leakage,' where state actions merely increase the availability of allowances for sale in other states, thereby eliminating any net environmental benefit.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Keeping the Lights on in the State Laboratory. https://www.wri.org/research/keeping-lights-state-laboratory

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Keeping the Lights on in the State Laboratory. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/keeping-lights-state-laboratory.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Keeping the Lights on in the State Laboratory |url=https://www.wri.org/research/keeping-lights-state-laboratory |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendkeeping, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Keeping the Lights on in the State Laboratory}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/keeping-lights-state-laboratory}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }