Could Business Step in Where Government Has Failed?

A Cap & Trade plan failed in the Senate this week. Could business do what the politicians couldn't?

From the Guardian -

Up to 1,000 volunteers will be able to use their... shopping loyalty cards at any BP garage to record how much fuel they have purchased – and, as a result... how much carbon dioxide they will emit into the atmosphere.

Each volunteer will be given a monthly allowance of carbon credits which they will then be able to trade with other volunteers using an online trading system dubbed the CarbonDAQ. Volunteers who are thrifty with their credits will, using a virtual currency, be able to sell their spare credits to those needing to drive further than their allowance allows.

Could this work on a national level? Could this be the model we use to get to Monbiot's 90% reduction?

The best part of this plan is the way it makes the cost of carbon emissions real. Your choices raise or lower your emissions, and this is directly hooked to the amount of money in your pocket. Right now, your conscience is your guide, and all you have to do is pick up any Bible, newspaper or divorce proceeding to see that self-restraint has not proven to be much of a check on bad behavior.

It is also an effective riposte to claims that an individual carbon trading system would be too expensive. The UK's environment ministry published a study that found:

Initial set up costs would be between £700m and £2bn. Running costs would be between £1bn and £2bn a year.

Using bank cards hits number two in the reduce-reuse-recycle list.

That said, I see an immediate impediment. Any voluntary plan is most likely to attract the conscientious and least likely to bring in large emitters. For obvious reasons.

Which brings us back to why government involvement is required if you want anything more than token participation in Carbon emissions reductions: uniformity. Unless the whole market is forced to recognize pollution in their costs, the big polluters will go to markets where they can push the cost onto you, me, the future and the planet because their competitors will.

So, cute. Fun for some Prius owners. Not anywhere near a solution.