Climate act needs accurate information

Published 1:30 am Monday, January 12, 2026

Washington residents clearly are committed to reducing carbon emissions, building a green-energy economy and embracing their moral duty to do what they can to slow climate change. Voters affirmed the Climate Commitment Act with 62 percent of the vote in November 2024.

Such lofty goals, however, demand transparent leadership and a clear understanding of the issues. Inaccurate data from officials — even when unintentional — undermines the public’s confidence and its willingness to make sacrifices for the communal good.

Officials at the state Department of Commerce revealed this week that predictions about the effectiveness of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act have missed the mark. Expanding on the “missed the mark” characterization, if this were a basketball game, the shot would have flown beyond the hoop and hit a spectator in the upper deck. Carbon reductions from projects touted by the department have amounted to 4 percent of their original estimates.

This follows projections about the Climate Commitment Act’s effect on gas prices. “This is going to have a minimal impact, if any, pennies,” then-Gov. Jay Inslee said when the act was passed in 2021. Instead, reasonable estimates now say the legislation has increased prices at the pump by at least 25 cents per gallon.

None of this outweighs the importance of the Climate Commitment Act, a cap-and-trade program that charges polluting companies. Such companies may purchase credits for additional emissions, a system that has raised $4.3 billion in revenue over the past two years. That money, under the law, is then directed to climate initiatives.

Gov. Bob Ferguson, who took office in January 2025, supports the program but also has said he would consider moving some of the revenue to projects unrelated to the climate. Some Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader John Braun, have similar ideas.

Amid this, state officials have designated more than 3,600 climate projects they said are expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 8.6 million tons. At least, that was the projection as of November. Now, acknowledging a calculating error, they say those projects will reduce emissions by 308,000 tons, which led to a mea culpa of a press release this week.

“Accurate data is essential to guiding our state’s work to reduce carbon pollution,” said Joel Creswell, who manages the Climate Pollution Reduction Program. Jennifer Grove, assistant director for the Commerce Department, added, “Corrective measures are already in place to strengthen our processes and prevent similar errors in the future.”

We would hope so. But the situation reinforces the need for rational evaluation and dissemination of accurate information about the Climate Commitment Act. If voters are to continue supporting carbon-reduction efforts, they must have confidence in the impact and the costs of the initiative. And should some of the money be diverted for other uses, such as transportation or assisting lower-income families, those expenses also should be carefully disseminated and evaluated.

Washington alone cannot alter the path of climate change. But serious efforts to reduce carbon emissions mark the state as a bastion for clean-energy development and innovation — a burgeoning sector that has vast economic potential. That being said, legislators should not be shy about evaluating the impact of the act on producers and consumers; as with any law, there likely is room for improvement. Assessing that, however, will require accurate information from state officials.