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

For more than 15 years, Connecticut has been a participant in the nation’s first — and to date only — regional cap-and-trade program that seeks to lower greenhouse gas emissions. — John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 18 Aug. 2026

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

Word History

First Known Use

1995, in the meaning defined above