Britain looks to carbon markets from China to Canada amid Brexit

Bloomberg

Britain should consider linking with China or California on climate policy and emissions trading after leaving the European Union, according to a panel of lawmakers.
“Repatriating environmental law to the UK will be an immensely complicated task,” said Robin Teverson, chairman of the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee. “We are not convinced that the government has yet found a way to deliver the continuity of environmental protection that we all want to achieve.”
The UK should identify other countries it can align itself with to maintain its status as leader in the fight against global warming, the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee said in a report published on Tuesday.
While the first option for Britain should be to stay in Europe’s carbon market and agitate to improve it, aligning with China, Canada and California might be among alternatives if the UK leaves, Teverson said. Canada plans to install a minimum price on each ton of carbon dioxide emissions in 2018 and China plans to put together a national market this year.
The UK’s environmental and
climate change standards and policies are “profoundly embedded”
in EU law, according to the lawmakers’ report.
One challenge facing Britain following Brexit will be to replace funding currently provided by the European Investment Bank, Teverson said. The EIB has lent more than 37 billion euros ($39 billion) to the UK since 2000, including for low-carbon projects, according to the report.
“We can have broader horizons,” as nations seek to bed down the Paris climate deal struck in 2015, Teverson said by phone. “It’s an important part of finding our place in other groups in the broader United Nations.”