Oregon’s climate protection program was established in 2021 to place a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels throughout the state. The program hadn’t gone into effect for most natural gas customers until November 2025. Now, using natural gas comes at a higher price than ever before in Oregon.

Thousands of commercial and industrial businesses throughout the state are seeing these high costs hit their gas bills. Many environmentalists are happy with the program and its progress towards reducing carbon emissions, but many policymakers view the program as flawed.

Nigel Jaquiss, the senior investigative reporter at the Oregon Journalism Project, has been looking into this program, and how the climate policy is affecting businesses throughout the state.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/10/oregon-climate-protection-high-costs-low-accountability-report/