California regulator floats future LCFS linkage

California would welcome bringing US low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) programs together in a common market, one of the state's top regulators said on Tuesday.

Such a linkage is unlikely to occur in the near future, but California Air Resources Board (CARB) deputy executive director Rajinder Sahota said it is something worth pursuing.

"I totally think we should link our LCFS programs," she said at the Argus North American Biofuels, LCFS and Carbon Markets Summit in Monterey, California.

Sahota said California and other LCFS states are working on a system that could allow the trading of compliance credits between companies covered by each program, but did not provide any other details.

Her comments mark a change in tenor from CARB, which historically has said a linkage would be difficult given the differing starting points and carbon intensity targets of each program. Oregon's Clean Fuels Program (CFP) started five years after California's LCFS, while Washington launched its Clean Fuel Standard just last year. New Mexico is working on its own program that will begin by 2026.

Oregon and Washington regulators at the conference said there have not been any formal discussions about a linkage, but did not completely dismiss the idea, highlighting the close informal coordination between the states.

"All puzzles can be solved eventually," said Bill Peters, interim director of the CFP.

By Michael Ball