Appeals Court To Decide Future Of California Carbon Auctions

(AP) - Businesses looking to invalidate California's fee for carbon pollution take their arguments to a state appeals court Tuesday in a case that could determine the future of one of California's signature efforts to combat climate change.

With a central piece of Gov. Jerry Brown's legacy on the line, lawyers for the state and for environmental advocacy groups will defend a program that has been closely watched around the world as a potential model for controlling carbon emissions.

Uncertainty surrounding the case has already been a major factor in upending the market for pollution permits. The permits consistently raised hundreds of millions of dollars a year until demand plummeted in 2016.

Judges will have until late April to issue a decision.