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The article discusses an innovative policy approach to climate change mitigation in Great Britain, called personal carbon trading (PCT), in which emission rights are allocated to individuals. According to the authors, despite the many variations of the PCT scheme, there are two main components they all share, including the lack of an option to opt out once an individual becomes part of a scheme and the distribution of an annual, equal per capita carbon emissions allowance for personal use without a fee. Topic include a discussion of the rationale behind a cap-and-trade policy approach in the context of climate mitigation policies, a summary of the status of PCT policy and research in Great Britain, and implications of the personal carbon allowances (PCA) scheme on individuals.

Reports how the Green Party's success in the June Euro-elections stunned British policymakers and emphasized the extent of public concern for environmental issues. Politicians and the media that are finally acknowledging the importance of these issues; Voting statistics.

This article examines the way in which contemporary British environmental policies are formed, how public opinion is changing, and what the main political parties are advocating with regard to the issue, as of October 1988. In constitutional terms Great Britain allegedly experiences an unusual form of what is known as an elected dictatorship. In theory parliament is meant to represent the democratic voice of the British people. But members of parliament (MP) are elected on the basis of the greatest number of votes cast in each constituency. In a two-party system, such should produce a parliament that is fairly representative. In modern multiparty British politics, however, where an MP who receives as little as 35 percent of the total vote can be elected, the resulting composition of parliament does not reflect the popular voting pattern. In the 1987 general election, the Conservatives won a 101-seat majority in the 649-seat House of Commons with 42.3 percent of the popular vote. Thus a minority party in terms of the popular vote enjoys in effect dictatorial power by virtue of a large parliamentary majority. Although ministers are nominally accountable to parliament, in practice they tend to be more answerable to their own restive backbenchers, the non-ministerial MP who form the majority of the parliamentary party. INSET: Survey of environmental attitudes in the United Kingdom 1988..

Reports on the waste management measures in the United Kingdom as of June 1, 2003. Information on the Waste and Emissions Trading Bill; Overview of the European Landfill Directive.