The California Air Resources Board (ARB) today issued is final determination to invalidate 88,955 compliance offset credits generated through the destruction of ozone depleting substances (ODS) at an incineration facility operated by Clean Harbors.

In October, ARB issued a preliminary determination to invalidate 231,154 of the more than 4 million Clean Harbors ODS offsets that were under review after the facility was found to not be in compliance with federal regulations. After a 10-day public comment period and internal deliberation, ARB decided to reduce the amount of offsets to be invalidated.

During ARB’s investigation, California Carbon Offset prices remained largely range bound and trading volume dropped considerably. Today’s announcement provides resolution to the issue, and we believe conditions are present to enable an increase in offset trading liquidity into next year.

If you have any questions regarding this issue or carbon offsets in general, please reach out to our US Carbon Markets team at: +1 415.963.9137 or +1 914.323.0265.