If you live in Washington State and you pay any attention to climate politics, you probably know about the state’s Climate Commitment Act. Passed in 2021, it’s a “cap-and-invest” law that’s designed to gradually ratchet down emissions from most major pollution sources in line with the state’s goal of cutting carbon pollution 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. A key feature of the law is that it not only puts a cap on emissions–it also raises money for the clean energy transition by auctioning off carbon pollution “allowances.”

Washington is one of very few states to have enacted this kind of climate policy, and it’s unsurprising the law would come under attack from monied interests. Sure enough, this year multimillionaire hedge fund manager Brian Heywood poured millions of dollars into getting Initiative 2117 on the ballot, which would repeal the Climate Commitment Act and prevent the state legislature from enacting similar laws in the future. That’s the subject of my latest piece for Columbia Insight, which looks at what some of the impacts from repealing the CCA would be.

One thing that struck me when interviewing folks for this piece was that, while it’s too soon to tell how effective the CCA’s “cap” component will be at limiting carbon emissions, there is no doubt that the law has already raised billions of dollars to support much-needed clean energy, efficiency, and habitat restoration projects. This is already having a transformative effect by supercharging the state’s transition to a greener economy.

Read more about what’s at stake if the Climate Commitment Act gets repealed.