FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ISN'T THIS SYSTEM MEANINGLESS BECAUSE COMPANIES WILL PASS ON THE CARBON COST TO CONSUMERS?
It's indeed likely that a substantial part of the carbon cost will be included in the pricing of goods and services. However, this doesn't make Communal Capitalism meaningless at all because:
1. The net effect of Communal Capitalism results in a reduction in wealth inequality. Most of the cost of carbon will be born by the wealthy. This is because the wealthy have a more carbon intensive lifestyle. They fly more in airplanes, purchase more carbon intensive (luxury) products, and live in larger houses that need more heating.
2. A higher price for pollutive products will encourage consumers to choose for clean alternatives because they are cheaper.
3. The price of (highly) pollutive products becoming (much) higher would be a significant incentive for corporations to innovate and bring non-pollutive alternatives to the market because they will be cheaper than pollutive products and therefore more appealing for the consumer.
ISN'T MASS SURVEILLANCE REQUIRED FOR THIS IDEA TO WORK?
No. We don't have to track everyones consumption to know how much carbon is emitted and charge for it. We can simply use numbers that are publicly available. A group of about 2000 large corporations in the EU who are active upstream in fossil fuel extraction publish how much fossil fuels they extract each year. From this it's easy to calculate how much CO2 emissions are emitted in the process. Dependent on how much fossil fuels they extract and sell, these corporations will purchase CO2 emission certificates from the Sky Fund. These companies will subsequently pass on the cost downstream in the supply chain which will result in higher prices on carbon intensive products.
WHO IS GOING TO CONTROL THE SKY FUND?
A non-profit organisation which receives the legal right to sell emission certificates to fossil fuel extraction corporations. This organisation is governed by a board of trustees which is appointed for 10 years or longer to ensure continuity despite government leadership change.
The board of trustees are required to legally commit to preserving the asset (in this case the sky) for the people, future generations, and for animal life.