Individual Carbon Rationing

Ronald Bailey | June 21, 2005

The Sustainable Development Commission in the United Kingdom is set to propose that every Briton be issued a ration card allowing them to emit so much carbon dioxide annually. The idea is that before a Briton could purchase gasoline for her car, or turn on the home heat, or board an airliner, she would have to show that she had enough carbon emission credits to allow her to do so. This is very much along the lines of the Contraction and Convergence idea in which every person on the planet would be issued equal number of carbon credits after the Kyoto Protocol expires.