From Ian Cairns, Seaford, East Sussex, UK
The article “A day in a net-zero life” provides a vision of the future, but didn’t get into the transformation of economies and our own behaviour that will be required to reach this utopia (4 September, p 34).
In my opinion, the only hope of achieving this is through legal restrictions on our personal carbon production. As was done during the second world war, to make sure that everyone, rich and poor, does their bit, we should introduce carbon rationing.
Every person will have the same annual allowance and each time they make a carbon transaction – buying a flight, a steak or a bunch of grapes from Chile, filling a petrol tank and so on – the carbon cost is deducted from their ration. Those with leaner lifestyles – not running a car for instance – can sell their excess ration to others. Each year, the ration is reduced by the amount required to take us all smoothly to net zero by 2050.
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