Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Every adult in Britain should be forced to carry 'carbon ration cards', say MPs

I thought this idea was dead*. Maybe not.
From the Daily Mail:

Every adult should be forced to use a 'carbon ration card' when they pay for petrol, airline tickets or household energy, MPs say.

The influential Environmental Audit Committee says a personal carbon trading scheme is the best and fairest way of cutting Britain's CO2 emissions without penalising the poor.

Under the scheme, everyone would be given an annual carbon allowance to use when buying oil, gas, electricity and flights....

...But critics say the idea is costly, bureaucratic, intrusive and unworkable....MORE

Other than that...

*This May 8 BBC story is why I'm confused:

Carbon trading scheme ruled out

The government has ruled out a nationwide carbon trading scheme to reduce emissions, describing the idea as "ahead of its time".

Under a 2006 plan, every adult would receive an annual carbon "allowance", with those not using their allocation selling surpluses to those using more.

But a government report said the scheme would cost up to £2 billion to set up and seemed like a "big brother" idea...

Seriously, other than that.