How Canadians Can Lower Their Carbon Footprint and Show The World How It Can Be Done – Part 6: Giving Everyone a Carbon Wallet and Carbon Currency

April 11, 2018 – In the two world wars of the 20th century, Canadians, Americans, the British and others in the conflict were asked to make sacrifices in the national interest to support the military effort. Ration books were issued for food staples, gasoline, rubber, and materials found in everyday items that were needed for the war effort. Those wars were fought against human opponents.

The war against climate change requires no less a personal sacrifice. But so far, governments have failed to educate the public about the danger. Instead of “when you ride alone you ride with Hitler” to get people to save gas as depicted in this U.S. World War 2 poster, we need a public campaign to state “live simply so others may simply live.”

In September of last year, I published on this blog site a posting that described how public opinion among young people was committed to fighting global warming through the pocketbook. That is, young people between ages 15 and 20 when surveyed were prepared to pay more for goods and services that would lead to a zero-carbon future. I was inspired by this to consider the potential of Canadians participating in a national effort to get personally involved in carbon emission reduction. I started looking for tools and models of systems that could help to give Canadians the means to drive our national emissions down through each of our individual contributions.

The tools:

• carbon calculators attuned to the regions of Canada
• a digital carbon currency
• a carbon currency wallet
• using blockchain as a mediated currency exchange

Why should we have regional carbon calculators?

Canada’s immense geography creates very different challenges. While most of us live close to the American border and in urban centres, there are also rural populations, communities in the Far North, and other isolated small towns that experience much different lifestyles than the vast majority. Imagine the energy requirements of Canadians living above the 60th parallel versus those who live in Southern Ontario. Also imagine the transportation requirements of isolated communities in the Far North where winter ice roads, seasonal shipping through the Northwest Passage, or air are the principal means by which people receive essential goods and services. The footprint challenges of these more isolated Canadians cannot be the same as those of us in the vast majority and thus require a separate accounting mechanism that recognizes the higher carbon threshold.

What will a personal carbon calculator do?

The carbon calculator can establish a benchmark carbon value that can then be translated into an equivalent value in a digital carbon currency. Every person who makes the calculation can then be assigned an appropriate amount of digital carbon currency.

What is a digital carbon currency?

This form of currency is electronic in nature with no physical representation. It can be traded in a private electronic exchange and transferred to another member of the exchange. The value of digital carbon currency for each person would be determined by the initial carbon calculation and would be placed in a secured electronic carbon wallet.

What is a carbon wallet?

Each participant in this personal carbon exchange would be able to transact carbon currency using a blockchain to secure, manage and track all activity. Carbon generating activities will count against the currency in the wallet. By the end of the year, any surplus will be assigned a Canadian dollar monetary value and be tradeable to those who have spent their carbon and emptied their carbon wallets.

What would be the mechanism for carbon reduction?

Each subsequent year, the amount of carbon currency assigned to each participant’s wallet will be decreased. This is the mechanism that will incent participants to expend less carbon through lifestyle changes. Participants will be able to reassess their carbon footprints periodically using the calculator to ensure that they are on the right track.

How will the blockchain work for carbon currency?

The blockchain is a cloud-based general ledger initially designed to manage the exchange of Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency. But the blockchain technology can secure any kind of transaction from banking, to voting, to real estate, to health record management. In this case, the blockchain will be the repository of record for every carbon wallet and every carbon currency exchange.

Are there examples of carbon currency elsewhere that can be used as a potential model?

Poseidon, a Swiss non-profit has created its own form of carbon currency that is not assigned to a carbon calculator but rather to the measure of the carbon value of everyday products. Think of going to the supermarket and filling your shopping basket with each product not only having a monetary value but also a carbon currency value based on the amount of carbon produced to create the product. It could be a steak (high carbon currency) or a locally grown head of lettuce (very low carbon currency). The challenge in invoking this type of carbon currency, which could equally work within what I am proposing above, is to get the buy-in of every company producing products sold to the public.

If you have thoughts on this subject and suggestions to further refine what is being proposed, please feel free to comment. Meanwhile, I leave you with this poster created to celebrate a recent Earth Day. Its message isn’t too dissimilar to the one depicted in the poster from World War 2. Only the enemy is different.