Memorandum submitted by Dr Laurence Matthews
(CRED 13)
BACKGROUND AND
EXPERIENCE
I have worked in UK industry for 20 years, and
also as a university lecturer. My specialist fields during this
time were management science and forecasting, both of which involved
not only technical knowledge but also an appreciation of the practical
issues that drive, and resist, change in organisations and in
consumer behaviour. I currently live in Taunton and am a writer
with no industrial or academic affiliation.
ISSUES I WOULD
LIKE TO
RAISE, UNDER
THE INQUIRY
HEADING OF
"OBSTACLES FACED
BY PEOPLE
AND HOUSEHOLDS
WHO ARE
TRYING TO
MAKE A
DIFFERENCE"
1. The carbon "social contract"
between individuals and government
My wife and I would like to play our part in
carbon reduction, but beyond the basic measures we see various
obstacles to doing so effectively. We face the usual problems
(availability of information, practical restrictions, financial
disincentives and bureaucratic processes). However dwarfing all
these is the psychological effect of the framework of rules in
which we are operating, whereby taking voluntary action in isolation
is largely futile—apart from setting a good example.
There is a "social contract" here:
by and large, individuals will play their part only if government
plays its part too. Central government's part of the contract
is to set effective binding caps on UK carbon emissions—with
some form of "cap and trade" mechanism to achieve them.
No more, no less. Refusal to act decisively here, with non-binding
"aspirations", only partial coverage of the economy,
or lip-service carbon taxes, would leave Defra exhorting us to
"do our bit" without government doing theirs, and would
be seen as a betrayal of trust, leading to frustration, despair
and non-cooperation.
I believe that the importance of this link is
so great that any proposals for citizens' participation in tackling
climate change which don't firmly address this issue would be
at best ineffective and at worst a distraction from effective
action.
2. Domestic "Cap and Trade" arrangements
Given 1, and given the urgency (in avoiding
climate tipping-points) of introducing a "cap and trade"
system, I would like to use the final minute of my allotted five
minutes to draw attention to a simple brand of domestic cap and
trade system which seems to have largely escaped attention in
recent reports prepared for Defra. This is essentially the "Cap
and Share" scheme as advocated by Feasta (the Dublin based
think-tank), which has many of the benefits of schemes like Domestic
Tradable Quotas, but is so simple that it could be implemented
in the next parliamentary session (possibly as a transitional
arrangement on the way to a more complex system such as DTQs or
Personal Carbon Allowances).
Dr Laurence Matthews
January 2007
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