Environment Agency to propose individual carbon ration cards

The Environment Agency will argue today that carbon rationing is the fairest and most effective way for the UK to meet its legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The Agency’s chairman, Lord Smith, will propose at the organisation's annual conference in London that every citizen be provided with a "carbon account" and unique number that they submit when buying carbon-intensive items such as petrol, electricity or airline tickets.

Individuals would then periodically receive statements that show the carbon impact of each purchase and how much of their annual ration has been used up. If they exceeded this ration, they would need to buy extra credits from those people that have not used their full allowance, in a similar fashion to existing emission cap-and-trade schemes.

Lord Smith, former culture secretary under the Blair Government, is expected to say that carbon rationing will help citizens "judge how they want to develop their own quality of life in a sustainable way".

He believes that the scheme will boost demand for low-carbon goods and services and encourage people to think more about the carbon cost of their purchases. It will also reward those who live less carbon-intensive lives, allowing them to generate income by selling unused credits.

In Lord Smith's opinion, rationing is a fairer option than carbon-related taxation because additional tax burdens could make activities such as air travel prohibitively expensive for those on low incomes.

It should also make it easier for the UK to hit its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050, which will require annual per capita emissions to fall from current levels of about nine tonnes to closer to two tonnes.

The move is likely to reopen the debate over carbon rationing, which was shelved by the government last year despite a Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) feasibility study, which indicated that rationing was technically possible and had the "potential to engage individuals in taking action to combat climate change".

However, the study also concluded that the idea was "ahead of its time", would be expensive to implement, and was unlikely to secure widespread public support. As a result, the research programme was dropped, although Defra said it would continue to monitor third-party research and may still "introduce personal carbon trading if the value of carbon savings and cost implications change".

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee last year called on the government to resume its research in the area, however, and to be "courageous" in attempting to overcome likely public hostility to the concept.

It also concluded that: "Widespread public acceptance, while desirable, should not be a pre-condition for a personal carbon trading scheme. The need to reduce emissions is simply too urgent."