Who will pay the carbon price?

Taken a short-haul flight recently? What about a long-haul trip? If you have, you'll have paid Air Passenger Duty, which recently rose a little bit (roughly to where it was in the 2000 Budget, before then-Chancellor Gordon Brown decided to cut it to encourage more people to fly). According to the Daily Telegraph, the Government has "admitted" that the cost of APD paid by passengers outweighs the cost of the emitted carbon by £100 million.

This is the culmination of monetisation, a dangerous trend that sits at the heart of the emissions trading scheme, the Kyoto Protocol and pretty much every market-driven solution to rising CO2 emissions. Monetisation is the principle that things without economic value - such as an eco-system, ancient woodland or a Norman church - can be given a value. From that it follows that if business and Government damages or destroys this invaluable thing, they can merely pay its value for doing so - always less than the profit made from the damage or destruction.

As anyone who has ever had a road or runway built through their community, seen a beauty spot ruined by the roar of jet aircraft overhead or watched rising sea levels wipe out their home knows, there are some things you cannot put a price on. How can you put a value on the right to breathe clean air, to eat unpolluted food, to live without fear of global climate breakdown? Some things simply cannot be bought and sold, and we must recognise that those who would put a price on life do so to make it easier for them to take it from us.