ICAP will provide an international forum in which governments and public authorities adopting mandatory greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade systems will share experiences and best practices on the design of emissions trading schemes. This cooperation will ensure that the programs are more compatible and are able to work together as the foundation of a global carbon market to boost demand for low-carbon products and services, promote innovation, and allow cost effective reductions so as to allow swift and ambitious global reductions in global warming emissions.

The international and interregional agreement was signed today by US and Canadian members of the Western Climate Initiative (Arizona, British Columbia, California, Manitoba, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington); northeastern US members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York); and European members including the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and the European Commission. New Zealand and Norway joined on behalf of their emissions trading programs.

The new partnership supports the current ongoing efforts undertaken under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which all ICAP members agree has a central role in fighting global warming.

ICAP proposes to facilitate global solutions to warming by:

• Rigorously and accurately monitoring, reporting and verifying emissions and working to determine reliable sources appropriate for inclusion in a globally linked program.

• Encouraging common approaches and furthering partners´ability to link together to expand the global carbon market, helping to prevent leakage.

• Creating a clear price incentive to innovate, develop and use clean technologies.

• Encouraging private investors to chose low carbon projects and technologies, generating the flow of money needed to support a shift to a low-carbon future.

• Providing flexible compliance mechanisms that ensure reliable reductions at the fastest pace and lowest cost.