Sims wants King County to join climate exchange

Hey, want to buy some carbon?

King County will be asking that question if Executive Ron Sims succeeds in having the county join the nation's only exchange for greenhouse gases — a market where people buy and sell "carbon credits" like shares of stock.

If Sims' proposal, announced Monday, is approved by the Metropolitan King County Council, it would make the county the first county government in the nation, and Metro the first bus system, to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, county officials say.

In the Chicago exchange, members promise to cut their gas emissions by a certain amount. If they exceed their goal, they can sell their "extra" tons of carbon to other exchange members who haven't met their goals. If they fall short, they have to buy those carbon credits.

So joining would commit King County to cut its emissions of greenhouse gases to 6 percent below 2000 levels by 2010 or it could be forced to buy carbon "credits" from other exchange members.

Joining the exchange would give King County more clout when it comes to setting the rules for such deals, at a time of growing interest in using profit as motive to address climate change, Sims said.

"Follow the money," Sims said. "And that's what we're doing."

In reality, the move probably wouldn't mean a big change in county operations. And the amount of money at stake is relatively small.

Even if it completely failed to meet its emissions promises, the county could wind up paying at most about $75,000, based on current prices on the exchange.

But county departments should have little trouble meeting the goals simply by continuing to pursue steps Sims ordered in March, including using more renewable energy and fuels made from vegetables, preserving forest land and encouraging development that results in less dependence on cars, said Jim Lopez, Sims' deputy chief of staff.

And the exchange is not as strict as the international Kyoto treaty. That accord, which the U.S. has not signed, would require cuts to 7 percent below 1990 levels. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has committed to get the city to meet that goal.

The Chicago Exchange program is voluntary. It has drawn big-name companies, such as Ford Motor Co., IBM and Dupont, and cities such as Chicago, Aspen and Boulder, Colo., and Berkeley, Calif., according to the exchange's Web site.

But because it is voluntary, it is a much smaller and less active marketplace than one in Europe, where governments have imposed limits on greenhouse-gas emissions based to the Kyoto treaty.

Still, the Chicago exchange lets U.S. companies get comfortable with the notion of putting a price tag on greenhouse gases, said professor Edward Miles of the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group.

"It's an important recognition of the issue," he said. "And it makes the U.S. economy a participant in the global enterprise."

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com