LONDON - Jul 19 - By BETH GARDINER Associated Press Writer

 

Britain is considering requiring individuals to limit the amount of carbon dioxide they produce and letting low polluters sell off their excess allowance to combat global warming, the environment secretary said Wednesday.

David Miliband, a rising star in the governing Labour Party who is considered a possible future prime minister, argued that the country needs to make fundamental changes to try to head off global warming, which he argued is a bigger and more immediate problem than most people realize.

He described the idea of personal carbon trading as a "compelling thought experiment" and said it would not happen in the short term.

But he said officials are already considering so-called emissions trading programs for other areas of the economy, including business and large public organizations. He argued that regulators would eventually have to tackle pollution by individuals, which he said accounts for 44 percent of Britain's emissions through activities like driving, flying, electricity use and home heating.

"Imagine a country where carbon becomes a new currency," Miliband said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday evening and released in advance by his office.

Under such a plan, the government would allot every Briton points allowing them to use a certain amount of carbon, he said. People would spend their points when they bought gas or electricity and those who needed more could buy leftover points from people who did not use their entire allotment, Miliband explained.

Miliband suggested people could keep their points on a card like a bank card, but provided few other details of how the system could work and did not say how much carbon each person would be allowed to create.

Scientists believe that emissions of pollutants such as carbon dioxide are leading to a dangerous rise in global temperatures. Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has long said climate change is a top priority, but has been criticized for not doing enough to confront it.

Miliband said the average British household produces 10 tons of carbon dioxide a year. While hybrid cars, more efficient boilers and the use of personal wind turbines and solar panels may help decrease that by as much as 30 percent, a carbon trading system could be the best way to encourage people to make even bigger reductions in pollution, he said.

"It is easy to dismiss the idea as too complex administratively, too utopian or too much of a burden for citizens," he acknowledged. "Are there not simpler ways of achieving the same objective? ... And will it ever be politically acceptable?"

But he said a trading system could work and be more fair and effective than other means of encouraging people to reduce pollution.

Some countries have used larger-scale carbon trading to meet the carbon dioxide caps they agreed to under the Kyoto treaty on global warming. They let power plants and manufacturers who produce less than their share of pollution sell carbon credits to companies that emit too much.

Miliband's idea would apply the same concept to individuals.

Tony Juniper, British director of Friends of the Earth, said that while individual carbon trading could help fight climate change, it was many years away. In the meantime, more needs to be done, he argued, including phasing out products that waste energy and mandating cuts in emissions.