: 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
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The project recently secured $1 billion in annual funding from the state’s cap-and-trade program through 2045. Sophie Austin, Fortune, 27 Dec. 2025 Yet the project is dependent now on taxpayer subsidies, with the Legislature last year guaranteeing $1 billion in annual funding from the cap-and-trade system for the next 20 years. The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 23 Dec. 2025 During his term, the state has solidified its cap-and-trade regime, crafted new climate disclosure rules, and, in an about face, supported a continuation of nuclear power. Justin Worland, Time, 14 Nov. 2025 Carbon pricing works either by requiring an emitter to pay the government a tax per ton of carbon dioxide emitted or by implementing a cap-and-trade system, in which the government sets a cap on aggregate emissions and firms buy and sell carbon allowances to stay under that cap. Jessica F. Green, Foreign Affairs, 7 Nov. 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 2 Jan. 2026.

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