Governments from 22 states and regions across the Americas on Thursday signed a climate action statement that included backing GHG targets and supporting carbon markets.

The statement came at the end of a climate conference in Toronto, and carried the signatures of government leaders for states and regions in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

“More and more federated states are demonstrating their commitment to carbon pricing, in particular by using existing mechanisms. On the road to the Climate Change Conference in Paris next December, the summit in Toronto is allowing us to take advantage of conditions that are highly favourable to the success of such projects,” Philippe Couillard, the premier of Quebec, said.

The statement had four main elements, and signatories committed to participate or undertake in at least one of them:

– Support for carbon pricing as an effective way of encouraging emission reductions, including identifying opportunities for linking systems as much as possible.
– GHG emission reduction targets or other quantitative commitments recently made by signatories that contribute to the UNFCCC’s 2C target.
– Commitments by governments to join the Compact of States and Regions and the Compact of Mayors and publicly report on progress to reduce emissions.
– Commitments by governments to join the Under 2 MOU and undertake concrete actions across sectors such as energy and transportation.

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