A Persuasive Climate argues that there is value in taking the personal carbon trading idea forward in some form, initially as a structured voluntary network, but that the Domestic Tradable Quota model of personal carbon trading poses too many problems in the immediate term. A voluntary network backed by government, which takes a more 'community scale' view of the idea, would greatly advance it and overcome the more problematic issues of unintended inequities and the roll-out of a massive personal carbon market.

CarbonLimited began life at the RSA in January 2006. Later this month, almost three years on, it comes to the end of its time there and is to enter a new phase, with a new focus, as part of the Centre for Local Sustainability at LGiU.

Dr Abigail Bristow of Loughborough University has led on a study which makes an important first step in understanding the likely behavioural impacts of a personal carbon trading scheme. The study, which also involved academics from the University of Leeds, finds potentially crucial differences in people's responses to personal carbon trading and carbon taxation.

New research published by CarbonLimited looks at the economic efficiency of personal carbon trading and its likely interaction with other policies. The report is authored by Dr Andy Kerr of E3 International, with support from William Battye. It was commissioned jointly by CarbonLimited and Green Alliance. The report argues that DTQs and similar designs of personal carbon trading schemes that assume organisations and individuals operating together in an economy-wide scheme are non-starters.

RSA CarbonLimited has won a prestigious Clarion Award in the 'Climate Change Communication' category for its innovative prototype personal carbon market, CarbonDAQ.

The Tyndall Centre's Richard Starkey is at odds with Polly Toynbee's views on personal carbon trading.

The Energy 2020 project is a unique collaboration of a wide range of representative organisations and policy leaders coordinated by the RSA to help accelerate the transition to a low carbon energy economy in the UK.

http://www.ippr.org/pressreleases/?id=3208

Leo Hickman writes about the RSA - Atos Origin carbon card scheme in today's Guardian.

Download the Environmental Audit Committee report into personal carbon trading (PDF)

Take a look at recent research into personal carbon trading published by Defra

Also of interest

Response to the Defra research by the Centre for Sustainable Energy

Response to the Defra research from the Lean Economy Connection (PDF)

CarbonLimited's Matt Prescott talks to Fox Business News

James Greyson's view of tradable energy quotas:
http://www.blindspot.org.uk/teqs_review.html

Interesting views on personal carbon trading: http://learnsigma.com/why-personal-carbon-trading-works

Lots of discussion here: http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/05/09/climate-policy-salad/#comment-465247

Also, Glyn Jones from Urban Mines has just sent us a link to an interesting academic paper from the University of Montpellier exploring citizen participation in tradable permit schemes: http://www.creden.univ-montp1.fr/downloads/cahiers/CC-08-03-75.pdf