ResearchActivity

Research Aims

As part of Rational Carbon's plans to highlight carbon rationing as an approach to reducing one's carbon footprint, we propose research or review of the issues around carbon rationing, and publication of the findings. Reducing one's carbon footprint via participation in a carbon rationing group raises many issues across several different academic disciplines, including history, sociology, psychology, economics, business administration, sales and marketing, finance, environmental science, political science, and law. Our current list of research topics includes the following below, but research by its very nature must be flexible so this list is liable to change.

We plan to attract undergraduates and postgraduates looking for dissertation or research topics, by collaborating with research supervisors at various academic institutions working in this field. There are three main areas where this sort of research can happen: final year undergraduate research projects (and rarely summer projects for undergraduates funded somehow to do it); projects/dissertations that are part of most master’s degree programmes (and similar level diplomas); doctoral research projects.

Undergraduates normally will have had 2 years of degree work before attempting a dissertation, the norm is 3 years but there are a lot of 4 year programmes now: some with a year in industry and some with a year abroad. For postgraduates, the qualifications and experience are clear. The competence of the students will be difficult to judge beforehand but one can assume that they have shown some competence in getting to where they are.

In all cases the research is supervised by at least one academic supervisor at their institutions. There are some science/engineering projects where the work is done in industry or somewhere else supervised by someone employed in the industry but there will always be academic oversight.

Satisfactory projects should result in at least one publication in a recognised, peer-reviewed journal. Interesting results may appear on prepublication websites and the like. Results would be published under the name of the people doing the work and normally the supervisor giving the address of the institution(s) involved. News media articles that follow linking to the research would be dealt with by both Rational Carbon and the institution. Rational Carbon itself will in many cases produce articles using the research.

Research Topics

• Psychology

1. To what extent does reducing one's carbon footprint independent of participation in a carbon rationing group give a sense of empowerment and counteract climate change-induced negativity and incidents of climate anxiety and depression? 2. How much does group participation in carbon rationing boost the sense of accomplishment or efficacy in participants' actions? 2. To what extent do "birth strikers" feel that carbon rationing participation would fulfil their expectation of a positive outcome for humanity in the face of climate change? (Birth strikers publicly self-identify as particularly psychologically affected by climate change and would be a ready-made subject group for surveys) 3. To what extent would carbon rationing put CO2 emissions at the forefront of people's minds when making purchasing decisions compared to non-participants? 5. Would continuous, noticeable expansion of participation in carbon rationing groups be a pre-requisite in any positive psychological impact that participation brought?

• Micro-economics

1. At what scale of operation would carbon rationing effect consumer decisions via market forces? 9. Estimate the maximum sustainable rate of CO2 emissions reduction for a carbon rationing group. 10. Examine how carbon rationing could make the true carbon price of goods transparent far faster and more accurately than carbon taxation or legislation from government 13. What stimulus would green business receive in the economy from carbon taxes compared to carbon rations? 18. What effects would carbon rationing have on the price of carbon-intense goods and services?

• Macro-economics

1. What is the comparative effectiveness in CO2 emissions reduction of carbon taxes, carbon pricing and carbon rationing 8. What is the economic elasticity of fossil fuel demand under different carbon policies including carbon rationing? 3. At what point would legislation banning frequent flyers, private jets, Rolls Royces and other high-emission products and services become redundant if carbon rationing participation grew steadily? 15. Would carbon rationing have a recessionary effect on the economy, and if so at what point in percentage participation?

• Environment

1. How many of the UK Gov't Committee on Climate Change's proposals for CO2 emissions reduction in the economy would be covered by the actions of citizens participating in carbon rationing groups?

• History

1. What features of the carbon rationing suggestions created by the Blair government in 2008 appealed or did not appeal to the public? What changes are there in 2020? 14. What is the history of governments abandoning carbon taxes and how consistent is government carbon policy in comparison to historical rationing programs?

• Business Administration

1. What benefits exist to encourage businesses (producers of both goods and services) to participate in carbon rationing schemes, particularly if their products or services would be labelled with an expensive carbon rations tag? 1. What benefits might exist for oil companies from participation in carbon rationing schemes? 12. To what extent would the existence & knowledge of the carbon rationing tag on products boost green business innovation and competition by suppliers and producers?

• Sociology

1. How equitable is carbon rationing? 20. Carbon taxes with carbon dividends are promoted as equitable - is this more or less equitable than carbon rationing? 22. At what point would rich people be impacted by carbon rationing if they were able to buy more rations in a personal carbon trading facet of a carbon rationing scheme, and how equitably would their payments be distributed to sellers on lower incomes? 29. Would the Royal Family be able to participate in a carbon rationing scheme and what facets of the rationing scheme would need to be adjusted to facilitate their high carbon footprint, e.g. democratic decision-making on the extent of extra allowances? 30. How would the NHS function under a carbon rationing scheme, in particular what percentage of a participant's allocation would have to be given up for a public service?

• Methodology

1. Would a "control" group of non-participants be necessary to measure the success of a carbon rationing group or would it suffice to compare the group's carbon footprint reductions against the national average carbon footprint data? 1. How would children and dependents be rationed fairly without negatively impacting participation of others? 1. What factors influence the level of carbon rationing that should be applied at the outset of a carbon rationing group? 1. To what extent would the total CO2 emissions budget of a carbon rationing scheme be affected if some participants were able to create their own carbon rations due to reforestation on their land or other climate-positive activities? 1. If a cattle farmer with a herd producing significant quantities of methane participated, would the farmer be expected to give up extra carbon rations to account for the extra greenhouse gases emitted? 1. How can carbon rationing as a methodology be extended to cover other ecological sustainability issues beyond greenhouse gases, e.g. recycled materials, water, non-climate-related pollutants, landscapes of outstanding natural beauty?