Personal carbon trading in different national contexts

Although personal carbon trading (PCT) is envisaged as a policy which could work in many developed countries, most research work has been undertaken in a UK context. Could the significant national variations in energy infrastructure, policy and patterns of personal carbon emissions diminish the viability and effectiveness of PCT outside the UK? This preliminary work has identified important national and regional variations in the EU and the USA, gathered together relevant data, and identified additional challenges for PCT not hitherto recognized within UK-focused research. A research agenda for internationalizing PCT research is proposed, which details the data, methodological development and future debates needed. Consideration of the appropriate geographical scale for implementing PCT suggests national rather than EU-level implementation within Europe, although subnational, state-based implementation may be relevant in the USA. While close attention must be paid to the interaction of PCT and individual national contexts, and detailed design of the policy is likely to vary between nations, the evidence suggests that PCT could be of relevance for many countries, not just the UK.