Examination of Witnesses (Questions 100-100)
MR RICHARD
STARKEY
10 JULY 2007
Q100 Chairman: Given that this is
an interesting topic and it is one that is going to go on provoking
quite lively debate, what should the Government be doing to take
the whole discussion forward?
Mr Starkey: I think it needs to
be trying to get a better handle on the specifics of cost and
benefit. I think it is important, as the previous witnesses said,
to try and put some hard numbers on what it would cost to set
up such a scheme and to administrate such a scheme. How much would
it cost to post out carbon statements to everybody? How often
would they need to be posted out? What percentage of cards would
be lost or stolen? I would imagine there is a wealth of data out
there in the public and private sector that could be drawn on
to try and get a handle on what the costs are. Once you have got
a better idea of costs we need to try and understand in more depth
what the benefits are. Is there this carbon consciousness raising
effect that people think there may be? Some people say a personal
carbon trading scheme would generate this sense of common purpose,
we are all in this together and we are all being allocated our
fair share of emissions rights. Would that happen? What benefit
would it have other than a feel good factor? Would it result in
more efficient fuel reductions? These issues are quite difficult
to eek out, but to the best of our ability we need to try and
find some answers to these questions. The fundamental question
is if there are additional costs to setting up such a scheme as
compared to other instruments, are there additional benefits which
justify those additional costs?
Chairman: Thank you very much. It has
been another interesting session. Thank you for coming in.
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