Ontario joins U.S. carbon initiative (Reuters)

By Allan Dowd 31 minutes ago VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Ontario will join the Western Climate Initiative, a planned U.S.-based regional carbon credit trading pact aimed at curbing global warming. Ontario is the fourth province to join the effort that includes California and six other U.S. states, and was established by U.S. state governors tired of what they saw as the Bush administration's inaction on climate change. Canadian environmentalists hailed the announcement as evidence that provincial leaders were losing faith in Ottawa's stand on climate change, but federal Environment Minister John Baird said he saw no problem with Ontario's decision. The WCI, which has set a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, is expected to unveil its plan for capping carbon emissions... [read full story]