Britain should go ahead with a carbon-credit trading system for individuals, a committee of Members of Parliament has recommended. The system could be modeled on cap-and-trade programs for industry, setting a cap on the amount of carbon each person is allowed to emit and requiring those who would exceed their allotment to purchase credits from those who emit less. Activities such as using gasoline, consuming electricity, and flying would require use of carbon credits. The MPs predicted strong public opposition to the scheme, but called for the government to be "courageous" and pursue it anyway. "Personal carbon trading could be essential in helping to reduce our national carbon footprint," the committee said in a report. "Further work is needed before personal carbon trading can be a viable policy option and this must be started urgently, and in earnest." Some environmentalists support the idea, saying it's more progressive than taxation and would encourage people to carefully consider their energy usage.
source: Reuters, BBC News, The Press Association
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Morosoph Posted 5:01 am
27 May 2008
Firstly, fixing the supply of carbon emissions doesn't allow for a cold winter. Carbon emission needs to be controlled over the long term; it is not more important to meet an exact yearly target than to avoid deaths through poverty.
Secondly, each person's individual account makes for a massive deadweight cost, in that it requires each person to be monitored, requiring something like an ID card with heavy centralised monitoring.
The first issue can be addressed with a more flexible "independent carbon bank" that targets both emissions and revenue, with suitable trade-offs. The second is better addressed by intervening at points with less granularity, such as further up the supply chain.
As things stand, the policy is neither sensitive to poverty, nor to our need for some privacy from those who would collate dossiers on our lives.
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