ABSTRACT
Personal carbon trading (PCT) is a forward-looking policy idea, which arguably could provide the national and international framework for delivering emissions reductions over the mid-to-long term. Different PCT schemes vary in their inclusiveness, the scope of emissions covered, the level of individual engagement, and the rules and procedures for allocating, surrendering and trading carbon units. Critics of PCT could fairly argue that it would be more administratively complex and expensive than taxation or upstream cap-and-trade alternatives; that it is not currently popular politically; and that PCT has no major interest groups lobbying in its favour. The effectiveness of PCT as a policy will be strongly determined by both behavioural responses to, and public support for, the idea. PCT has been generally regarded as a radical policy idea, outside the mainstream of policy-making. Nevertheless it has attracted high-level political and policy attention in the UK.
