Personalised carbon trading

After thinking about ways to reduce CO2 emissions, I think I've come to embrace the idea of personalised carbon trading. This has been advertised by other environmentalists, and I think it could work even though it would be technically very difficult.

The idea is that each person in the UK has an allotted annual (or maybe quarterly) CO2 limit. They each have their own CO2 number on something like a credit card. When the person pays an energy bill, buys petrol or train and airline tickets their card is charged the appropriate CO2 emission count. At the end of the annual or quarterly period, the person has to pay extra tax for any CO2 emissions above the limit. If the person is under their limit they earn a rebate.

The fees should hit people who use a lot of CO2 and pay those that use less. At the end of each period the bill will be a visual reminder of how much CO2 costs, and should be an incentive to change behaviour.

I would also like to see this extended to companies, and not just to those companies already in the carbon trading scheme. Companies I have worked in quite often use a lot of energy leaving lights and computers on, and putting staff on flights at the drop of a hat when video conferencing would work just as well.

Now that would be radical.

Squiffy.