The hard part is getting started

The Western Climate Initiative has overcome the most difficult step of any complex, worthwhile undertaking — getting started.

The announcement Tuesday of broad design recommendations for a regional market-based cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gases launched Washington, six other states and four Canadian provinces on the path of reducing pollution that causes global warming.

In the absence of leadership from the federal government and the Bush administration, states around the country took it on themselves to explore workable, collaborative solutions.

Together they set a goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Each jurisdiction will be assigned an emissions limit. Key components of the programs are left for states and provinces to fine-tune to local political and economic realities.

The intent is not only to curb emissions, but also to create incentives for investments in cleaner technology and renewable energy sources. Failure to cut emissions and adjust to new expectations will be expensive.

Local lawmakers will have to decide if official permission to pollute above assigned limits is distributed free or auctioned off. Those rationed shares could be resold by companies that reduce emissions and adjust their operating systems.

The program starts in 2011 with accounting and reporting requirements for 2010, then a three-year period to reach compliance. By 2015, the program expands from a focus on major emitters to fuels and energy issues very close to home.

All of it is a work in progress, but the movement is forward. Change comes with mistakes, course corrections and policy changes. All the giddiness about biofuels is over and the technology is adjusting to experience and lessons learned. Significantly, the talk is about adjustments and smarter technology, not abandonment of a promising alternative to fossil fuels.

Cap-and-trade programs are being explored by regional consortiums of states from coast to coast. The Western Climate Initiative represents 20 percent of the U.S. economy and 70 percent of the Canadian economy. Both U.S. presidential candidates endorse this way forward.

Nothing about this effort is easy. Protecting the economy and insulating consumers from unintended shocks is a huge assignment. But global warming is a reality, and the first, bold, difficult step has been taken.