ResearchActivity

Organisations

RevoProsper - https://www.revoprosper.org/ susana.martin@revoprosper.org

Research Aims

Reducing one's carbon footprint via participation in a personal carbon trading 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 below is 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 summer projects for undergraduates); 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 peer-reviewed journal, at the very least in open access publication 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 EcoCore and the institution. EcoCore itself will in many cases produce articles using the research.

Research Topics

• Social sciences

1. How equitable would the carbon currency based on carbon allowances be?
2. Carbon taxes with carbon dividends are promoted as equitable - is this more or less equitable than carbon currency based on carbon allowances?
3. At what point would rich people be impacted by carbon currency based on carbon allowances if they were able to buy more rations in the personal carbon trading scheme, and how equitably would their payments be distributed to sellers on lower incomes?
4. If the Royal Family participated in a carbon currency based on carbon allowances scheme, how much would they need to be subsidised by the state to facilitate their high carbon footprint? How does this compare to the financial subsidy that they currently receive from the state - is it proportionately much more or similar, comparing both average state carbon allowances and average annual income?
5. How would the NHS function under a carbon currency based on carbon allowances scheme, in particular what percentage of a participant's allocation would have to be given up for a public service?

• Psychology / consumer habits

1. Comparison of purchasing habits between independent, lone-acting citizens reducing carbon footprint, citizen in an EcoCounts group recording emissions and with motivational support, and citizens in personal carbon trading group (when it exists) - survey
2. To what extent would personal carbon trading put CO2 emissions at the forefront of people's minds when making purchasing decisions compared to non-participants?
3. What action brings greatest sense of empowerment and counteracting climate change-induced negativity, incidents of climate anxiety and depression - survey
4. How much does group participation in EcoCounts boost the sense of accomplishment or efficacy in participants' actions? Survey
5. To what extent do "birth strikers" feel that personal carbon trading 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)

• Micro-economics

1. At what level of strictness of the personal carbon budget would market forces start to impact purchasing choices? How strict does the personal carbon budget have to be for participation to show significant impact?
2. Estimate the maximum sustainable rate of CO2 emissions reduction for a PCT group.
3. Examine whether carbon currency based on personal carbon allowances could make the true carbon price of goods transparent & thus less desirable far faster and more accurately than carbon taxation or legislation from government
4. What stimulus or competitive advantage would green businesses receive in the economy from carbon taxes compared to carbon rations?
5. What effects would carbon currency based on allowances 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 currency based on allowances
2. What is the economic elasticity of fossil fuel demand under different carbon policies including carbon currency based on allowances?
3. At what point would legislation banning frequent flyers, private jets, Rolls Royces and other high-emission products and services become redundant if carbon currency based on allowances participation grew steadily?
4. Would carbon currency based on allowances 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 mechanisms in the economy would not need state implementation due to sufficient coverage under citizen or business actions under a carbon currency based on personal carbon allowances?

• History

1. What features of the carbon currency proposals created by the Blair government in 2008 appealed or did not appeal to the public? What changes are there in 2023?
2. 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 PCT schemes, particularly if their products or services would be labelled with an expensive carbon rations tag?
2. What benefits might exist for oil companies from participation in carbon currency based on allowances schemes?
3. To what extent would the existence & knowledge of the carbon price tag on products boost green business innovation and competition by suppliers and producers?

• Methodology

1. Would a "control" group of non-participants be necessary to measure the success of a PCT group or would it suffice to compare the group's carbon footprint reductions against the national average carbon footprint data?
2. How would children and dependents be rationed fairly without negatively impacting participation of others?
3. What factors influence the level of rations that should be applied at the outset of a PCT group?
4. To what extent would the total CO2 emissions budget of a carbon currency bsaed on carbon allowances 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?
5. 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?
6. How can carbon currency bsaed on carbon allowances 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?