Putting citizens in charge: a European citizens’ initiative pushes for carbon budgets for everyone, starting with air travel

The European citizens’ initiative “Air-Quotas” is proposing a new way to reduce emissions fairly — starting with air travel. The idea is to give each citizen a yearly carbon allowance that covers everything they consume, from flights to everyday products. Those who consume fewer high-carbon goods and services — like flights, meat, or fossil-fuel energy — can sell their unused points, while those with more carbon-intensive lifestyles would need to buy extra to cover their emissions. Supporters say this system would shift consumer demand and push businesses to cut their carbon footprint. 

To explain how it works and why citizen involvement is key, we spoke with Armel Prieur, the Initiative representative.

Armel: The carbon accounting mechanism through tradeable carbon quotas was initiated by economist Pierre Calame in France in 2009. We took it up again in 2019, during the Citizens' Climate Convention in France.

In short, it is based on two pillars:  giving each citizen a certain number of carbon points, a carbon currency, which will be used to pay for the carbon content of all the products and services they purchase; and requiring companies to label the price of each product not only in euros, but also in carbon content. That way, citizens can track what they are consuming.

We start with air travel and our slogan is Share the sky: we give carbon points to all citizens whether or not they use the plane.

The quotas would be renewed annually, with a 6% reduction. This small reduction each year in 30 years will amount to 80% less carbon consumed. And 80% reduction is really what we need to achieve planetary balance, since we cannot emit more CO2 and greenhouse gases than forests and oceans can absorb. That's the goal: to get below 2 tons per citizen in 30 years.  For example, each citizen would start with 9,000 carbon points, the equivalent of 9 tons, which is the current European average consumption. 9,000 carbon points for the first year, then 8,500 the second year, etc. 

The good news is that the disparities are very significant. The richest are also the major carbon consumers. The difference we have is that only 32% of people are above the 9,000 average, and far above it, while 68% of Europeans are below 9,000; so they will have a surplus. Surplus means they will be rewarded for their moderation, since they will be able to sell the excess carbon credit they have if they need to make ends meet. This is the social aspect of this approach, to reward everyone who spends less carbon.

Why citizens need to be the driving force

We believe that even if forward-looking politicians decided to implement this, it wouldn't work. There needs to be a majority decision supported by the citizens for such a proposal to survive for 30 years. We call on the European Commission to establish citizens' climate decision-making assemblies in each country. Citizens should be the majority decision-makers on how we will proceed, how we will act.  Should we have a central agency or regional agencies, should the credit be given year by year, or month by month? Should we give the same amount to children as to adults? These questions remain open and we need a debate. 

If we don't address the climate, it will be fatal. Everything we've done for health, education and security will be for nothing because climate chaos is mounting.

Why choose the European citizens’ initiative 

We believe that the European Citizens' Initiative is a good approach to communicate with all European citizens, and it's also a way to bring together NGOs, but possibly also businesses. We have companies around us interested in advancing the issue of carbon accounting. 

Want to learn more? Read this: The European Citizens' Initiative - The basics

I would like to ensure that businesses contribute to this initiative as well, because relying solely on NGOs and citizens is nice, but we need partnerships with businesses that can inform their customers that it's important to take proper account of what's happening with the climate, and we are currently setting up a coalition of businesses.

Europe remains the last continent left to move things forward. We were the continent of Enlightenment three centuries ago. Today, we must be the continent of Planetary Balance, to achieve this. 

Read also:

• Europe's water emergency: A citizens’ initiative demands EU action for clean and sustainable water
• Making the case for a European Environment Authority that can sanction cross-border polluters in the EU
• The students behind EcoScore: You can have an impact even if you do not reach 1 million signatures
• The student initiative which made it to the Green Deal: "Battles that are worth fighting for are almost never won with money"