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but if personal CO2 quota can be monetized then suddenly everyone could have some personal wealth to use (or more likely be exploited for). This is more for the SF novel!
n3il-
but if personal CO2 quota can be monetized
That's just purchasing carbon offsetting, isn't it?
Which reminds me of the whole Ryanair "carbon offsetting" debacle. People were given the option of offsetting the carbon of their flight by contributing to Ryanair's offsetting scheme. It then turned out that carbon offsetting isn't really regulated, and Ryanair's whole scheme was a single acre plot of trees (can't remember the exact size, but it was sufficiently miniscule for an international airline).
O'Leary was quoted as saying "From an acorn, grows a mighty oak!", despite the fact that they'd offset less than 0.01% of their emissions.
Nef
The whole idea of a personal carbon footprint came from BP as a strategy to shift the blame on carbon emissions onto the individual. While it is definitely useful to have an idea of what is bad for the environment and what you can do to lower personal emissions, things like taxation at point of emissions, and other larger systematic changes are what's required.
I'm aware this opinion isn't particularly helpful, nor am I trying to discourage people having a sense of responsibility about their effect on the environment, but forcing those with limited means to make ecologically conscious decisions seems like an unfair burden.