CapGlobalCarbon addresses an absolutely vital issue: the urgent need to start progressively reducing total global emissions from the use of fossil fuels. The idea is to impose an ‘upstream cap’: an annually reducing limitation on the total amount of coal, oil and gas that can be introduced onto the market anywhere in the world. The cap is implemented by a global licence system. A limited number of licences are issued each year, these are auctioned and governments ban the introduction of fuels not covered by a licence.

1. CapGlobalCarbon
a proposal to create a new global system for addressing climate
change as a back-up to the inter-governmental negotiations
CapGlobalCarbon addresses an absolutely vital issue: the urgent need to start
progressively reducing total global emissions from the use of fossil fuels. The idea
is to impose an ‘upstream cap’: an annually reducing limitation on the total amount
of coal, oil and gas that can be introduced onto the market anywhere in the world.
The cap is implemented by a global licence system. A limited number of licences are
issued each year, these are auctioned and governments ban the introduction of fuels
not covered by a licence.
We have a crisis on our hands. A crisis is an opportunity. This is an
opportunity to realise the human potential to work together as a global force
for the good of all life on Earth.
poverty and inequality.
CapGlobalCarbon is an idea whose
time has come, for two reasons: the
urgent need for the world to reduce the
use of fossil fuels is clearly established
and widely recognised; and the vital
global reductions are not expected
to come from the intergovernmental
negotiations. CapGlobalCarbon is
a response to this situation. It is an
initiative from outside government
to make sure that, whatever deal is
negotiated between nation-states, the
total of global emissions from fossil fuels
are reduced year by year as required
by climate science. It provides a
safeguard.
CapGlobalCarbon envisages the
scheme being administered by a new
global institution established for the
purpose, a Global Climate Commons
Trust. The Trust acts on behalf of the
whole of humanity, guided by climate
science. The Trust auctions the global
permits. Fossil fuel companies pass
on the cost of the licences to their
customers. The Trust distributes the
proceeds of the auction to individuals
and communities throughout the
world by means of cash transfer
programmes. Low fossil fuel users will
thus benefit more than they lose in
higher fuel prices and the funds will
have a significant impact on global

2. The Trust would be established by a group
of institutions and individuals. It could be
based in any country. Under its constitution,
the Trust would be charged with acting on
behalf of humanity as a whole, including
future generations. This obligation would be
enforceable by the courts of the country in
which it is established.
The science: we are heading for irreversible climate change
No Certainty Establishing an independent
Global Climate Commons Trust
The three stages of CapGlobalCarbon:
1. An independent Global Climate Commons Trust is established to act
on behalf of the whole of humanity.
2. The Trust establishes and manages a global Cap&Dividend scheme.
The scheme is policed by nation-state governments within their own
countries.
3. The funds generated by the scheme are distributed to individuals
and communities throughout the world by means of cash transfer
programmes and community support funds.
The increase in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from about 280 parts per million to
about 400 parts per million, mainly due to the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), has destabilized
the planet’s energy, temperature and climate systems. Scientists warn that the Earth system is
currently heading for tipping points beyond which recovery by human actions will not be possible.
“Perhaps the biggest challenge is
that governments are unlikely to
outline cuts in annual emissions that
will be collectively consistent with
a path that gives a good chance
of remaining below the 2°C danger
limit”- Lord Stern
the Guardian 15 December 2014
The current system of global governance
The human response to date has taken the form
of inter-governmental negotiations under the
UNFCCC(the1992UnitedNationsFramework
Convention on Climate Change). The need
to reduce emissions has been recognised but
emissions have continued to rise.
The recent intergovernmental meeting in
Lima was intended to lay down a clear path
leading to the Paris conference in December
2015. Instead it left observers worried that
the actions necessary to achieve the necessary
decarbonisation will not be achieved in Paris.
It is clear that - to put it mildly - we cannot
be certain that inter-governmental negotiations
will bring about decarbonisation on a sufficient
level to prevent uncontrollable climate change.
What is required therefore, if we are to avoid
dangerous tipping points, is a system to make
sure that global carbon emissions truly are
reduced.

3. The permits are auctioned. Fossil fuel
companies thus pay open market prices for the
permits; and these can then be traded. Fossil
fuel companies pass on the cost of the permits
to their customers.
The net proceeds of the auction sales are
distributed to or for the benefit of everyone in
the world in equal shares per capita. Low fossil
fuel users will thus benefit more than they lose
in higher fuel prices. The distribution of funds
could play a significant role in tackling global
endemic poverty whilst simultaneously aiding
individuals and communities in their transition
to a zero-carbon, renewable-energy-based
economy.
The Trust would establish a global Cap&Dividend scheme whereby emissions from burning
fossil fuels are capped by limiting the amount of fossil fuels that can be brought onto the market
anywhere in the world - an ‘upstream cap’, the cap being set and then lowered each year based
on climate science, and being implemented by fossil fuel corporations being required to have a
permit issued by the Trust for each unit of coal, oil or gas introduced anywhere in the world, the
permits being denominated in carbon units.
Initiating and managing a Cap&Dividend scheme
The permits
Sharing the benefits
The Global Cap&Dividend scheme is policed by nation-state
governments
Backed by a massive global movement -
this is going to be essential - the Trust will
seek to persuade nation-state governments
to enforce the global scheme within their
own borders by requiring all imports into,
or production of fossil fuels within, their
countries to be covered by a permit issued by
the Trust, refusing entry into their economies
of coal, oil or gas not covered by a Trust
permit. Governments should be willing to
agree to do this because CapGlobalCarbon is
the only certain way of achieving the radical
reductions in global emissions required to
avert calamitous climate change and this
would relieve governments from having to
pay the costs of the massive damage that
extreme climate change would cause.
The scheme thus has these
benefits:
- It acts as a global safeguard to
ensure that, whatever may or may
not be agreed between nation-state
governments at Paris next year, the
necessary reductions in total global
carbon emissions required to avoid
catastrophic runaway climate change
are achieved.
- There is no interference with the
powers and responsibilities of nation-
states.
- Interference with the global economy
is kept to a minimum.
- The scheme contributes to the
reduction of poverty and inequality.

4. The current crisis offers us the opportunity
to realise our potential as the Earth’s first
conscious/aware species, to ensure that
our actions match our knowledge and
understanding. We cannot change the existing
political system, at least not quickly enough.
CapGlobalCarbon is something we can
together make happen. The trick is that it is
initiated from outside the mainstream.
Making it happen
“Never doubt that a group
of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world,
indeed, it is the only thing that
ever has” - Margaret Mead.Join us at:
www.CapGlobalCarbon.org
“You never change things by
fighting the existing reality. To
change something, build a
new model that makes the
existing model obsolete”
- Buckminster Fuller
CapGlobalCarbon is a proposal by members of the Irish think-tank Feasta, the foundation for the
economics of sustainability: www.feasta.org. Implementation will require a new organisation with
large resources and influential champions as well as widespread support. Will anyone interested in
contributing in any way please contact us at www.capglobalcarbon.org
To get this project off the ground will require a critical mass of individuals and
non-governmental organisations to initiate and develop this project on behalf of
humanity as a whole including future generations.
Systems change These are essential:
We have the tools
• Shared purpose. A project of this scale needs
a shared purpose. Here the purpose is clear: that
of enabling humanity to achieve the necessary
reductions of total global carbon emissions in
time to avoid runaway climate change; and
doing so in a way that benefits the poor.
• Shared principles and values. A new global
institution of this nature must be based
on core values such as equality, sharing,
cooperation, active non-violence, transparency,
accountability and the rule of law - everything
clear and enforceable through the courts.
• The project will reflect the principles stated
in the Bolivian Universal Declaration of the
Rights of Mother Earth.
• Realtime communications technology
• Open-source - CapGlobalCarbon will engage
the new possibilities of thousands of people
contributing to create something new.