Carbon Limited and Energy 2020

Carbon Limited was a pioneering project on personal carbon trading. The project began in January 2006 and came to an end in November 2008, resulting in a final report, ‘A Persuasive Climate’.

It has now entered a new phase with a new focus, as part of the Centre for Local Sustainability at LGiU (Local Government Information Unit). Energy 2020 was a unique collaborative project, sponsored by the Renewable Energy Association and designed to influence national sustainable energy policy.

This resulted in a National Action Plan and associated Energy 2020 Manifesto, supported by 25 different organisations. Phase II of Energy 2020 concluded in June 2008, following the publication of the plan and manifesto.

Report: A persuasive climate - Personal trading and changing lifestyles 

Almost half of the UK’s emissions of greenhouse gases can be attributed to our individual actions.A framework aimed at systematically reducing them is therefore an attractive prospect: using emissions trading to achieve this is appealing because it has the potential to be more progressive than a carbon tax.

Indeed, the provision of incentives (financial or otherwise) is vital to encourage environmentally friendly behaviour, whilst avoiding many of the sticky issues of compulsion.

Read the rest of the report, A persuasive climate - Personal trading and changing lifestyles (PDF, 281KB)