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Scientific research shows that human-made climate change has long been a reality. At present, global greenhouse gas emissions are even rising. The most important greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, which is produced by burning fossil fuels. In addition, there are other substances, such as methane that is – among others – caused by intensive livestock farming, which add to the climate change. In order to effectively and rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, I have therefore developed the regulatory climate initiative in the context of my dissertation, which differs from previous approaches to an individual carbon budget (e.g. personal carbon allowances, PCAs, according to Mayer Hillman and Tina Fawcett, 2004) by a more business-friendly and socially-fair approach in the sense of an ordoliberal framework.

The idea is as follows: every person receives an individual greenhouse gas emission budget (adapted to local living conditions) and is allowed to consume it according to their own preferences. These emission allowances therefore do not impose levies in the sense of a carbon tax. Thus, if the lifestyle is not above-average, there are no additional costs. All emissions generated must actually be compensated so that each country can meet its respective UN climate targets (see Paris Agreement).

Hence, a kind of carbon equivalent tax allowance is initiated, which decreases annually in accordance with the UN climate targets (an adjustment can thus be achieved predictably over about three decades until the goal of climate neutrality in 2050). The implementation is carried out by means of an EcoFair-Points account, to which the free of charge emission allowances are transmitted annually in form of such points by the respective state agency.

Once this basic budget is used up, additional points or emission allowances, respectively, can be purchased in order to continue to buy climate-impacting goods and services. However, the price per point must be high enough that this money can be used to finance measures which remove these additional greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Moreover, the funding of such innovations is therefore a spinoff and would probably create new jobs in climate-friendly industries.

Products with low carbon equivalent footprints would be compensated directly by the producer for practical reasons, while the big points ("heavier cars, larger homes and more frequent air travel" according to the German Environment Agency, 2016) are allocated to consumers. The possibility to purchase more point-intensive products (e.g. car, housing, etc.) could be achieved by points saving, rent-free lending from authorities, or by providing the already mentioned compensations. In addition, attention should be paid to geographical conditions and budget should be increased in regions where, for example, public transport is not adequate.

This approach ensures a fair distribution of national greenhouse gas emissions agreed at UN level regardless of income and creates an effective climate framework. Within this regulatory framework, an expectable, pro-business and at the same time socially-fair climate policy could succeed on the basis of binding personal responsibility. Please sign the petition to support this concept.

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Sources:

Fawcett, Tina (2010): Personal carbon trading: A policy ahead of its time? Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38 (11), 6868-6876.

German Environment Agency (2016): Wer mehr verdient, lebt meist umweltschädlicher. Online https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/wer-mehr-verdient-lebt-meist-umweltschaedlicher

Hillman, Mayer; Fawcett, Tina (2004): How We can Save the Planet. London: Penguin.