Centre for Alternative Technology proposes "zero-carbon Britain" by 2027
July 23, 2007
The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), a Welsh-based eco-centre, has published a report outlining a strategy to achieve a "zero-carbon Britain" by 2027, using personal carbon trading.
The report, entitled zerocarbonbritain, recommends the adoption of "Contraction and Convergence", a global framework for negotiations and management of climate change.
The CAT recommends that the system is administered on a national level through a system of personal carbon permits, specifically tradable energy quotas, over the next 20 years.
Research by the CAT drew on the centre’s 35 years of experience and consultations with world-renowned experts in climate science, climate policy and renewable energy technologies.
The report sets out a framework of policies to drive the transition to a zero carbon economy and also defines a global carbon budget, while identifying an equitable portion for Britain.
Commenting on the publication, Paul Allen, CAT Development Director and the report’s co-author, said, "zerocarbonbritain is a radical yet pragmatic vision of Britain’s energy future, based on a reading of the most recent science and driven by bold new policies."
He added, "zero-carbon Britain is scientifically necessary, socially possible and technically achievable - we must now make it politically thinkable."
Sir John Houghton, former Co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former Director General of the UK Met Office, said, "The authors of zerocarbonbritain present a time-scale for action that begins now. I commend their imagination (coupled with realism), their integrated view and their sense of urgency, as an inspiration to all who are grappling with the challenge that climate change is bringing to our world."
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