CONTENTS 1. the background THE BACKGROUND This is a guide to joining the carbon rationing scheme. In 2003, the average UK citizen caused 5.4 tonnes of CO2 to enter the atmosphere (ref 1). In order of importance, these were due to: • air travel (1.8t) These five categories make up our so-called personal CO2 emissions. Personal CO2 emissions make up about half of the UK's total. The other half is caused by businesses and the public sector. A sustainable level of personal CO2 emissions is thought to be as low as about 0.6t if we leave business and public sector with their “fair†share. This represents a 90% reduction from today's level. To avoid dangerous and potentially runaway climate change, this needs to be achieved by 2030 (ref 2). . THE CARBON RATIONING SCHEME To achieve a 90% reduction in personal emissions by 2030 will require a 10% reduction per year. This scheme gives us all an opportunity to start contributing our fair share to that goal. For simplicity, the scheme covers the first four categories (96%) of personal emissions only, that is: air travel, household heating, car use and household electricity. The scheme assumes these came to 5t, i.e. 5000kg, of CO2 per person in 2005. The personal ration of each member of the scheme will therefore be 4500kg in 2006, 4050kg in 2007 and so on. The scheme rewards those who live within their ration and penalizes those who exceed their ration. It is based on the principles of Contraction and Convergence and Domestic Tradeable Quotas (refs 3 and 4). HOW TO JOIN You join the scheme by letting me know you want to and by explaining something about your living circumstances as this will affect how your CO2 is counted. For example, my details are: • I share a house with 3 others My ration would therefore have to cover 1/4 of the household’s emissions (no matter how much or little the others contributed to the total) and all of my car’s emissions (no matter how often others borrowed or shared my car). HOW IT WORKS At the start of the year, I will credit your CO2 account with your annual ration (4500kg in 2006). Every time you get an energy bill, a new MOT or a plane ticket, you will let me know the details (e.g. how many kWh of electricity, annual car mileage, flight destination, etc) and I will debit the equivalent amount of CO2 from your account and let you know your new CO2 balance. This should not mean you sending me more than about 12 to 15 emails a year. At the end of the year, if you are in credit, you will stand to gain for every kg of CO2 still in your account. If you are overdrawn, I will ask you to pay off your CO2 debts! Debts will be paid at a rate of so many pence per kg of CO2. The participants will agree amongst themselves what this rate should be. They must come to an agreement by the end of March each year. Debtors will pay their dues into a CO2 fund held with a friendly (Co-op?) bank. The CO2 fund will then be distributed amongst the CO2 savers in proportion to their share of total savings. So if, for example, your savings make up one tenth of the group’s total savings, you will receive one tenth of the total paid into that year's CO2 fund. You may of course pledge it to some good cause if you are embarrassed to keep it for yourself! To understand what this would mean in practice, let us assume that in 2006 the participants settle on a rate of 10p per kg. Imagine you have used up your generous ration of 4500kg and want to make another journey. You will now be going into CO2 debt. At 10p/kg, a car journey from Birmingham to London will cost about £4, a return flight to Athens will put you back £188 and a return flight to New Zealand will cost £1200! At the end of the year, whether you are in CO2 credit or overdrawn, if you want to remain in the scheme and/or benefit from the distribution of the CO2 fund, you should send me (as proof of your year's CO2 footprint) paper copies of your energy bills, MOT and plane tickets. These should get to me before the end of January of the new year. CO2 debts due on the old year should be paid in February of the new year. CO2 funds will be shared out amongst the happy savers in March. ENFORCEMENT Threat of exclusion from the scheme is the only means of enforcement at our disposal. However, it ensures (I think) that CO2 funds are only paid to those who have a clean “compliance†record. You will be excluded if: (ANTICIPATED) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q1. How will you calculate the CO2 emissions associated with the energy use that I report. Q2. How can we ensure we hit our annual emissions target? Q3a. I am a student and live 30 weeks a year in a hall of residence and the rest of the year I am either travelling or at home with the folks. How does that work? Q3b. What happens when I move out of hall and into that flatshare? Q3c. What if energy bills are included in the rent? Q4. What is to stop me cheating by not reporting a flight? Q5. Can I join part way through the year? Q6a. I have a baby. Does she get a full ration too? Q6b. What will you do when I report our household energy use? Q6c. What will you do when I report our car mileage? Q6d. What will you do when I report our air travel? Q7a. I live with my partner and we share a car but he is not interested in his CO2 emissions. How will that work? Q7b. And what about the car emissions? Q8. I drive/fly on business. Does that come out of my ration? Q9. Add your own here! REFERENCES 1. Mayer Hillman "How we can save the planet", Penguin (2004). Table 4 Andy Ross 20-01-2006 Oldberrow House Tel. 01564 793141 p.s. there is a forum to discuss this scheme at http://portal.campaigncc.org/?q=node/550 |
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Campaign against Climate ChangeUK activists portal |
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