ABSTRACT
Despite global efforts to decarbonize energy supply, carbon emissions keep rising. Personal carbon allowances (PCAs) is an umbrella term for mitigation policies that aim to limit carbon emissions by allocating a carbon budget to individuals, encouraging them to change their energy consumption patterns, and engaging them in emissions reduction (see Behavior Change and Energy Consumption Behavior). Unlike carbon mitigation policies which tend to focus on energy production, PCA focuses on energy consumers and is sometimes described as a downstream cap-and-trade policy. Several PCA policy designs have been proposed. These vary in their combination of system boundaries, the energy services covered (heating, power, mobility, flights), geographical scale, trading rules, and the allocation and surrender of allowances (Figure 86.1). Fawcett and Parag have shown how different options can be combined to create varied PCA designs including cap and share; tradable consumption quotas; carbon rations; tradable transport carbon permits; personal carbon trading; and individual carbon quotas.
