That’s remarkably similar to what I proposed, just on an individual level. I think that a carbon auction for businesses is far better though, for a simple reason. If businesses cut carbon, we can still maintain production and consumption — or even drive it, boosting the economy.

With an individual ration, you adapt to the problem rather than mitigating it, with disastrous economic and humanitarian consequences. People won’t go along with the idea because it’s limiting and entirely unnecessary, and it would almost certainly cause more issues than climate change would if left unchecked.

Also, people aren’t evil if they haven’t started to cut carbon — they’re just human. We find it difficult to deal with issues unless they are salient, and, by making these issues salient to businesses rather than consumers, we limit pain and potentially actually create prosperity.