Economist under heavy fire for CO2 distribution plan: ‘Denigrating’

Twitter is in turmoil because of a plea from Rabobank economist Barbara Baarsma. She pleaded yesterday in a radio broadcast of BNR for a personal CO2 budget. Many twitterers see nothing in this, because according to them it actually promotes inequality. Some even think the idea goes so far as to speak of proof that conspiracy theories are becoming reality.

The idea of ​​a personal CO2 budget is not new. In order to emit less, everyone should get the same amount of maximum emissions, advocates of the idea believe. If you want to emit more than that maximum, you can buy a CO2 budget from others, who do not use up their own CO2 pot because they live sustainably.

This is what CO2 budget should look like

Barbara Baarsma explained in her own words yesterday how she envisions that plan for CO2 emission rights. In any case, it is clear that she is in favor of such plans, because we all emit too much CO2. And something has to be done about that.

“What if we allocate all the remaining rights we still have when it comes to CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions among everyone?” she suggested. “That every household or every citizen gets a certain amount of emission rights. So that, for example, we do not emit more than our limit per year.”

But suppose you still want to emit more, because you fly often, for example? Baarsma has the following solution for this. “Someone who doesn’t want to fly, because they don’t have the money for that, for example, sells emission rights to me. And get a little more money as a result. In this way, people with a narrow wallet can also earn something from greening.”

Plan of Barbara Baarsma ‘sick’ and ‘class society idea’

Baarsma’s idea is eagerly picked up on Twitter, especially in a negative sense. Many people see the plan as a prelude to an ‘incredibly mischievous class society idea’, as Tim Hofman calls it.

Other tweeters call the idea “sick.” “The rich can just keep flying if the poor soon sell out their CO2 rights. Baarsma does not talk about inequality (or a better world) for the sake of convenience.”

“Let those paupers sell me their CO2 rights so that I can fly and live big”, journalist Wierd Duk sums up Baarsma’s plan in his own words, condescendingly.

Some say this ‘confirms conspiracy theory’

Others see a conspiracy theory confirmed in the plan. Thierry Baudet, for example, has been warning for years about a social credit system and, according to him, this is very similar. “Just as I predicted,” he responds. Whether there will ever actually be a CO2 budget is by no means certain.

But there are also supporters of the CO2 budget

However, it is not only criticism that counts. There are also proponents of the personal CO2 budget for households. Sander Schimmelpenninck is one of them. He lashes out at the twitterers who, according to him, do not see the good intentions of the plan.

According to Schimmelpenninck, the plan actually ensures more economic equality. „Well, of course you don’t understand that.”

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