Cap and Trade is a system being seriously examined as the successor to the Kyoto Protocol by the UN and is advocated by individual governments (see below) as the most suitable mechanism for delivering real reductions of carbon emissions that lead to climate change.
One of the successful features of the Kyoto Protocol was a system for carbon credits where large-scale industries that produce significant emissions benefit from implementing new technologies that reduce their emissions. A credit is awarded for each tonne of CO2 emissions that is not emitted, and the company is then able to sell the carbon credit in the carbon markets, much as oil is sold on oil markets for example. The system generates financial incentives for large-scale carbon emitters to clean up their act, however a major criticism is that there is no corresponding incentive for consumers to reduce their emissions.
Very soon after we launched our system to bring the benefits of carbon credits to schools the UK government announced a Cap and Trade system that will be implemented for all organizations in the UK with electricity consumption over a certain level, including schools. (see www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/business/crc/about.htm ) Our system is very similar to the UK’s, although it is of course optional not mandatory.
The underlying theme of our programme is changing the habits of the school community, which can undeniably reduce carbon emissions and goes straight to the core of the Climate Change problem: changing the hearts and minds of people to reduce unnecessary consumption. The lack of motivation for individual students and teachers to reduce energy use in a school environment (where no one takes individual responsibility for paying the electrical bill) is related to the well-known issue first brought to light by Garret Hardin in 1968 in his article ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ in the journal Science.
Education and a sense of community can help to avoid wasteful resource use and many schools are very well equipped to deliver good results. Our introduction of a Cap and Trade system at the level of schools provides the incentive for a school community to deliver significant quantifiable carbon emission reductions as well as helping to educate parents and the general public about the Cap and Trade system. The value of the latter, although difficult to quantify, will however probably far outweigh the former.
As the first step in developing educational resources, we have developed games in order to make the principles of Cap and Trade accessible to students (including those in primary schools). The first game was successfully used at the ESF Environment Conference on 3rd June and we plan to work closely with partner schools in this programme to refine it so that it can be used elsewhere.
In subsequent years, once the school community is thoroughly engaged with an energy-saving programme, then the stage is set for the implementation of technology and spending that will help to reduce energy bills further. One of the beauties of this programme is that it provides a means to finance this work over the long term.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email this
Comments (0)
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Write comment
