Since I’ve started writing about the Business of Green, a lot of people tell me they feel helpless to influence the direction in which the planet is headed. One complaint I hear a lot is that it’s too difficult to know what works, and what’s hokum, when people seek to lower their personal emissions. Once one trend comes into vogue — take “offsetting” — it is shown to be less effective than hoped or discredited entirely.
So I was intrigued by initiatives broadly known as personal carbon allowances (PCAs to the green cognoscenti) that would force individuals to start making choices every time they pay for goods and services or take a trip. The idea is most advanced in Britain where the secretary for the environment, David Miliband, favors the idea and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and Oxford University are conducting studies.
In my column this week, I highlight how one company, Design Stream, is even designing a newfangled credit card to flash up the emissions generated by everyday purchases and deduct points from an annual quota that would be the same for every adult. Those who emit less could sell excess credits to folks who drive big cars, live in big homes and take lots of flights.
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