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Environmental and economic benefits resulting from citizens' participation in CO2 emissions trading: An efficient alternative solution to the voluntary compensation of CO2 emissions

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  • Rousse, Olivier

Abstract

Over the last few months in the emerging and lucrative carbon project market, a growing number of organizations have proposed to offset citizens' greenhouse gas emissions. The target of these carbon-offset initiatives is to satisfy the increasing demand of individuals wishing to take part in the fight against climate change. In this paper, we review and criticize these carbon-offsetting programs in general terms. We then propose an alternative that, in our opinion, should prove to be a better solution for citizens who are willing to pay for protecting the environment. This alternative is to organize citizens' participation in carbon emissions trading on a large scale in order to purchase and retire (destroy) CO2 permits. To do so, a benevolent Regulator or non-governmental organization must correct certain CO2 emissions market failures; this particularly concerns the high transaction costs, which represent an entry barrier and prevent citizens from purchasing and withholding permits. Based on theoretical findings, we demonstrate that implementing citizens' participation in emissions trading is an economically efficient and a morally preferable option
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  • Rousse, Olivier, 2008. "Environmental and economic benefits resulting from citizens' participation in CO2 emissions trading: An efficient alternative solution to the voluntary compensation of CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 388-397, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:36:y:2008:i:1:p:388-397
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    2. Asproudis, Elias & Weyman-Jones, Tom, 2011. "Third parties �participation in tradable permits market. Do we need them?," MPRA Paper 28766, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Uchida, Emi & Swallow, Stephen K. & Gold, Arthur J. & Opaluch, James & Kafle, Achyut & Merrill, Nathaniel H. & Michaud, Clayton & Gill, Carrie Anne, 2018. "Integrating Watershed Hydrology and Economics to Establish a Local Market for Water Quality Improvement: A Field Experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 17-25.
    4. Bristow, Abigail L. & Wardman, Mark & Zanni, Alberto M. & Chintakayala, Phani K., 2010. "Public acceptability of personal carbon trading and carbon tax," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1824-1837, July.
    5. Ziao Zhou & Yuan Li & Yongli Zhang, 2023. "Carbon Offsetting-Driven Multi-Actor Low-Carbon Collaborative Evolutionary Game Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, June.
    6. Peifang Yang & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2016. "Community-Based Tradable Permits for Localized Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(4), pages 773-788, December.
    7. Tan, Xueping & Wang, Xinyu & Zaidi, Syed Haider Ali, 2019. "What drives public willingness to participate in the voluntary personal carbon-trading scheme? A case study of Guangzhou Pilot, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Alberto M. Zanni & Abigail L. Bristow & Mark Wardman, 2013. "The potential behavioural effect of personal carbon trading: results from an experimental survey," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 222-243, July.
    9. Kim, Brent & Neff, Roni, 2009. "Measurement and communication of greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. food consumption via carbon calculators," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 186-196, November.
    10. Chang, Kai & Zhang, Chao & Chang, Hao, 2016. "Emissions reduction allocation and economic welfare estimation through interregional emissions trading in China: Evidence from efficiency and equity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1125-1135.
    11. Jiqin Ren & Peixian Yu & Xiaohong Xu, 2019. "Straw Utilization in China—Status and Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-17, March.

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