Carbon Card Worth A Copy

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday December 12, 2006

Edmund Tadros

A BRITISH proposal to issue citizens with a carbon credit card should be considered here, an environmental group says.

The card could be in operation in Britain within five years under a carbon-rationing scheme, a feasibility study published yesterday and commissioned by the British environment secretary, David Miliband, found.

It would be swiped every time a person bought petrol, paid an energy utility bill or booked an airline ticket.

The idea should also be explored in Australia, said the director of the Total Environment Centre, Jeff Angel. "I assume you're not penalising people for using more carbon but you want to reward people for using less," he said. "If you get credit for using less, like Fly Buys, it is, I suppose, an emission-trading scheme."

Mr Angel acknowledged that significant "methodological and administration issues" would need to be overcome.

Under the scheme every British citizen would be given an annual allowance of the carbon they could expend on a range of products. If they wanted more they could buy it from someone else - or they could sell any surplus.

Conceding there were unanswered questions, such as the risk of fraud, Mr Miliband defended the scheme, saying "bold thinking is required because the world is in a dangerous place".

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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