: 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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Even with a new infusion of $15 billion of cap-and-trade funds, the California High-Speed Rail Authority barely has enough money to connect Bakersfield to Merced. Marc Joffe, Oc Register, 16 Oct. 2025 But several Democratic affordability bills drew GOP opposition, notably the extension of the cap-and-trade program aimed at limiting climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, which critics said would further raise gas prices. Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Sep. 2025 Ian Choudri California High Speed Rail Authority CEO loses $4 billion after Trump pulls federal funds from the troubled project, but lands $1 billion a year from state lawmakers who extend cap-and-trade program. Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 21 Sep. 2025 The funds will come from the state’s convoluted cap-and-trade program, which makes emitters of greenhouse gases buy pollution credits. Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for cap-and-trade

Word History

First Known Use

1995, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cap-and-trade was in 1995

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Cite this Entry

“Cap-and-trade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cap-and-trade. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.

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