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Coming Soon: Individual Carbon Credits?

By Doug Bandow on 11.14.09 @ 2:38PM

You'd better not have a big carbon print in Great Britain. If some of the enviros get their way, you will have to pay more every time you exceed your government carbon allotment.

Reports the Daily Telegraph:

Lord Smith of Finsbury believes that implementing individual carbon allowances for every person will be the most effective way of meeting the targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products that contribute to their carbon footprint, such as fuel, airline tickets and electricity.

Like with a bank account, a statement would be sent out each month to help people keep track of what they are using.

If their "carbon account" hits zero, they would have to pay to get more credits.

Those who are frugal with their carbon usage will be able to sell their unused credits and make a profit.

Lord Smith will call for the scheme to be part of a "Green New Deal" to be introduced within 20 years when he addresses the agency's annual conference on Monday.

An Environment Agency spokesman said only those with "extravagant lifestyles" would be affected by the carbon allowances.

He said: "A lot of people who cycle will get money back. It will probably only be bankers and those with extravagant lifestyles who would lose out."

Right. Only bankers and the rich will be affected. And the check is in the mail.

Maybe this will be the Obama administration's next big idea. If Washington can force you to buy government-approved insurance, then why not force you to conform your life to government-provided carbon allowances? And after cap & trade for business can cap & trade for individuals be long in coming?

View all comments (16) | Leave a comment

JP| 11.14.09 @ 3:39PM

The enviorment is just a pretext, and if this tax is implemented it would expand in much the same way the income tax and AMT did.

I always thought the VAT tax was the perfect tax, but a Carbon Tax is even better. Congressmen I am sure dream about such a tax. Everything uses energy. And if our goal is CO2 reduction then we could even tax farming (everytime a farmer ploughs, CO2 stored in the topsoil is released), gardening, or even working out. Just think of the possibilites!

Jim Williams| 11.16.09 @ 12:04PM

Its not a tax - its an allowance to encourage individuals to use energy responsibly. We have to manage the remaining fossil fuels otherwise we are going to (1) run out of oil for which we rely on for just about everything from energy to pharmaceuticals and (2) pollute the atmosphere with dangerous levels of CO2. causing irreversible climate change.

Carbon Allowances are the a way of encouraging individuals to use their carbon responsibly with out resorting to regressive taxation which hits the poor not the rich.

Introducing Carbon Allowances together with trading allows individual choice - if you need to fly across the Atlantic then either cycle to work for the rest of the year or be prepared to but the carbon credits you require on the open market from individuals who through energy conservation have excess credits to sale.

This trading sets up a carbon economy which rewards those investing in energy conservation such as insulating their homes, using public transport, driving a city car and punishes those who decide not to reduce their carbon pollution.

I believe Reagan introduced something similar to manage SO emissions from power stations in the 80s

Many of us in the UK thing Carbon Credits are a positive step forward in the fight against climate change.

Jim UK

Leroy Hurt| 11.14.09 @ 3:47PM

The idea of an individual being able to sell unused carbon credits for a profit will likely give rise to more speculative opportunities. Combined with business credits, this could result in the energy bubble I've seen predicted - http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/02/0081908.

Jeff Perren| 11.14.09 @ 4:49PM

"It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products"

Welcome to smiley-face totalitarianism. And in the land that birthed the Magna Carta, John Locke, et al. Revolting.

Dixie Pixie| 11.14.09 @ 5:40PM

But I did not build a 60MW coal-fired power plant in my backyard. Nor did I buy the fleet of 747 cargo planes for the front yard to complement the lawn gnomes. Don't I get carbon credits for my ecological forbearances. That is how Al Gore made a fortune in carbon credits. So why not everyone?!?!?

Ned| 11.14.09 @ 8:39PM

I wrote this a year or two ago:

I have been thinking that we could once again find a use for the homeless people made so famous during the eighties when Reagan was President. They could be bought or say leased out as carbon credits. Their lifestyle allows them complete freedom from contributing to Global Warming. They have a very small carbon footprint. No electricity, natural gas, gasoline, cars, nothing. They are the ultimate green environmentalist of the 21st Century.
Companies could spring up that register homeless people. These companies could pay a homeless person a small fee; in turn the homeless person agrees to stay homeless. Then they let their name be used as a carbon credit for a non-homeless environmentalist. These companies then sell or lease these names, as carbon credits for a large fee to the wealthy and cash in on their guilt. A nice little certificate could be issued for each credit which has a picture of the homeless person and his vow to stay homeless so long as he is receiving his monthly stipend. Then when a wealthy liberal feels guilt or is questioned about a high carbon footprint, they could pull out the certificates to show how they have offset their excessive use of carbon. Decks of cards could be made, like the most wanted ones for the Iraq War, with homeless people on them. Maybe people could trade them.
Maybe some bumper stickers, such as:

Stop Global Warming, Go Homeless.

Have You Hugged A Homeless Person Today?

Thank The Homeless, Gaia does.

Love Earth, Keep The Homeless, Homeless

Margie| 11.14.09 @ 9:02PM

Sadly, soon enough those of us who cannot find work will become homeless when the Obama unemployment extensions finally run out and we can't pay the bills or rent or mortgages. In his grand scheme of things~ that is, having us become slaves to the man behind the curtain, after so destroying the private sector job market, perhaps he plans on taking the homeless and incinerating them. Then the only ones left will be the Union "workers" and other worshipers.

Ned| 11.15.09 @ 7:40AM

Margie, we can all be carbon credits so the righteous folks can enjoy their opulent lifestyle guilt free.

Margie| 11.15.09 @ 11:04AM

Ned,
Along with, of course all those "unwanted" aborted babies who their Mothers couldn't be bothered with who got in their way, since abortion will be paid for by Obama, and let's not forget the "elderly" who don't deserve to live to a ripe old age if they need medical help because, like the inborn they're just "not worth it".
Carbon credits, indeed.
(of COURSE Obama isn't ANYTHING like Stalin or Hilter, right?)

Ned| 11.15.09 @ 11:12AM

Margie, one set of carbon footprints will never exist and one set will be erased.

Margie| 11.15.09 @ 11:39AM

The "carbon footprint" both of the unborn and the unwanted will exist in eternity. In the eyes of God, they cannot be snuffed out.

Ned| 11.15.09 @ 2:02PM

Margie, well said. And just possibly, we can stop this thing in 2010, so eternity will be the second stop for the unborn and the reward for the living.

George Bruce| 11.15.09 @ 10:02PM

if you drive a car, I'll tax the street;
if you try to sit, I'll tax your seat;
if you get too cold, I'll tax the heat;
if you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Taxman, George Harrison

Poor Algore. It will take all that NoBell money to buy the credits for his jet and his mansion.

cindy, california| 11.16.09 @ 12:35AM

I can't wait for the great socialist like Oprah Winfrey, Sean Penn, Susan Saradon, Danny Glover, Barbara Striesand, Harry Belefanante, Richard gere, Jane Fonda, Ben Affleck,Janeane Garofalo, Jack Nicolson to pay for thier foot print. Can't we just start charging them to day the capitalist pigs!

Ned Scarlet| 11.16.09 @ 9:58AM

cindy, california, the money paid by the folks you mention won't mean anything to them. It will probably be off set by investments in Al Gore's companies.
Who it will hurt are the folks living in fly-over country that do not live in large cities and need to drive private automobiles. It will hurt folks who choose to have a private home and can’t afford to pay any more money than they presently do. (You know heating and cooling bills).
It short these fees will hurt the people who tend to vote conservatively.