Environmental Policy Option
It’s our job to make sure that air, land and water are looked after by everyone in today’s society, so that tomorrow’s generations inherit a cleaner, healthier world. (Environment Agency)
Two main views for the public are plausible. The first model is the ‘deficit ’ model, whereby the public will not be competent to be involved with personal carbon allowances/DTQs. This understanding of the public leads to conclusion that upstream trading systems will be most successful and appropriate. The other model evident has been the ‘citizen’ model which suggests that people must be consciously involved in order to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions. The citizen view leads to a preference for downstream solutions. The citizen view of the public is most compatible with the ideal of sustainable development .
Spreading communication on climate change:
•Start communicating a sense of vision and values - the posit ive outcomes achievable by taking action to avoid the worst excesses of climate change. This is currently missing from the debate.
•Research shows that there is not one single audience for messages about climate change, but different groups of people, with different values, who will respond best to different messages. This must be recognised.
•Current approaches based on making people fearful about climate change without giving them positive actions to take to prevent further climate change would not work. Fear needs to be coupled with ‘agency’. People should be encouraged to move towards something positive rather than run away from something negative.
•What images do we have to use to communicate DTQs? There is no research which tells us how to communicate the term ‘carbon’ to the public and how people feel about it .
•Because different people have different motivations, a policy which relies for success on a mix of moral and self- interested motives would maximise the likelihood of positive responses.
•Any carbon reduction scheme would have to take account of the differences which we know exist within the population. The public acceptability of different approaches may vary from the perspective of these different groups.
Analysing the scheme from different stakeholder perspectives:
Government perspective:
- EU wide, DTQs offers an improvement of the existing trading scheme. The EU emissions trading scheme post -2012 would form part of the DTQ system.
- The scheme removes politics from climate change. Once the cap has been set and the system is in place and functioning, there would be no further political issues. With taxation there would always be political pressure to change the system, tax rates etc.
- The DTQ scheme provides an overarching framework for act ion and so removes departmental horse- trading issues
- Implementing DTQs will allow the UK to claim the moral high ground and provide global leadership
- There are communications benefits as under other schemes the Government must make people act but under the DTQ scheme people must act for themselves
- Will assist with obtaining energy security (people generating own electricity etc)
- Consumer choice will drive innovation
- Certainty of outcome and good chance of achieving objectives
- No need to tax (some taxes removed)
- Need a framework and funds to deal with inequalities
Consumers/ citizen perspective:
I like it because:
- it ’s free
- the scheme rewards frugality
- can transfer credits if I choose e.g. to relatives
- it ’s a fair system and requires everyone to take part
- encourages green purchasing and green behaviour – before there were no incentives and although its easy to support the idea it isn’t so easy to choose green products or change behaviour if there are no incentives
- like the idea of being connected to the world in this way ( i.e. as a ‘world citizen’)
- the scheme promises long term security for both the world and own family CITY view:
- London will become the European Cent re for Carbon Finance Innovation
- A Carbon Policy Commit tee will be established to set long term goals and to keep an eye on implementation and the social and economic impacts. This commit tee will remove politics.
- One trading scheme means a deeper market – a deep and liquid market leads to efficient price formation
- The City will become involved in micro- finance for small businesses
BUSINESS view:
- DTQs will enable deregulation of business and consumer choice drives market in
desirable direct ion: less bureaucracy will be better for business efficiency
- The DTQ scheme gives certainty and long term goals
- The scheme is fair to individuals/ consumers and also EU-wide
- The scheme provides a wide range of businesses with the opportunity to innovate
- The scheme offers certainty as the long term as well as short term goals will be known.
ECONOMISTS view:
The scheme delivers a carbon economy:
- more cheaply, largely because: innovation and necessary investment encouraged because all agents adequately incentivised; scheme delivers a large flexible market so there are no difficult boundaries to hinder trading; extra government education scheme is not needed as the scheme delivers carbon literacy.
- quicker , because: market mechanisms efficient (other markets have problematic imperfections) ; more transparent .
- more fairly, as: redistributive effects are posit ive; stimulates behavioural change; revenue is available to target impacts.
Proceedings: TAXING AND TRADING: DEBATING OPTIONS FOR CARBON REDUCTION 3rd & 4th November 2005, St Anne’s College, Oxford University
http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/
downloads/pct/taxing-trading.pdf
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