What is a Climate Club?
CarbonLimited is a web based project designed to give us all an incentive to make the many small changes that can have a big impact. An organisation creates a Climate Club, which becomes a small market for carbon permits. Groups are invited to take part in the Climate Club where they will track their carbon emissions, make sure they own enough carbon permits to cover their carbon emissions and are rewarded for good performance.
This network of groups taking part in the Climate Club should give people both the support and peer pressure to manage their carbon footprint. Everyone taking part is free to reduce their emissions in whatever way they can, using their creativity and shared knowledge to get results.
The Climate Club market is based on ‘cap and trade’. This means there is a limit or ‘cap’ on the number of carbon permits that the club as a whole can use throughout the year. Groups taking part in the club are allocated carbon permits at the start of the year and have to make sure at the end of the year the amount of carbon they emit is equal to the number of permits they own. Throughout the year they can trade with other groups, buying and selling carbon as their emissions go up or down. At the end of the year their performance is measured and the top performers get a reward.
Climate Clubs will be using virtual money. Putting a price on carbon emissions helps to show that it does have an economic value, helping us to compare the cost of pollution to other day to day costs. Plus, although we may not pay directly for carbon emissions now, there is a potential we might have to in the future.