cap-and-trade

adjective

ˈkap-ən(d)-ˈtrād 

: relating to or being a system that caps the amount of carbon emissions a given company may produce but allows it to buy rights to produce additional emissions from a company that does not use the equivalent amount of its own allowance

Examples of cap-and-trade in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This year the California Air Resources Board overhauled its cap-and-trade auctions, where refiners and other businesses purchase rights to emit greenhouse gases. — Dan Walters, Mercury News, 15 July 2026

Recent changes to what used to be known as the state’s cap-and-trade program by the California Air Resources Board are behind that funding uncertainty. — Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 11 June 2026

That includes the state excise tax, the federal gas tax, state and local sales taxes, a storage tank fee, and costs tied to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard and cap-and-trade program. — Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, Oc Register, 31 May 2026

His plan is light on specifics but includes defending the state’s cap-and-trade program. — Sophie Austin, Fortune, 29 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1995, in the meaning defined above