California Air Resources Board's pantomime of policy making

California regulators were patting themselves on the back last week, after adopting the state’s first cap and trade scheme. But do they really have much to celebrate from this pantomime of policy making? During a 10-hour public hearing, 200 members of the public each delivered 2 minutes of comment on the regulations.

As comedy performances go, the Californian Air Resources Board (Carb) won’t be winning an Emmy any time soon. But this style of open democracy to create historic legislation may end up making a joke of California’s climate policy.