I’m already paying for the effect of the emissions trading market in my energy bills – why should I do more?

It is true that because all electricity generators are included in the EU emissions trading scheme, and have been given fewer allowances than they need, you are already paying for them to reduce emissions, through your electricity bill. In fact, it’s worth bearing in mind that if you do decide to reduce your own carbon emissions, and you take actions that reduce your electricity consumption, like fitting low energy light bulbs (or hopefully soon LEDs) then unless you buy up the corresponding amount of permits from the market you are either just helping the power companies buy fewer permits or enabling them to sell spare permits to someone else.

This is why Sandbag is so important.

Once the market is established and the permits handed out, the only way to make sure some of your actions count is to buy up and destroy those permits. We then have a stronger argument the next time caps are being set that there should be fewer created.