I am in Abu Dhabi for the World Economic
Forum’s annual
Summit on
the Global Agenda. This is my second year as a member of the Global
Agenda Council that’s looking at consumer goods (think: things that come
in boxes that you buy in person) and how to create a culture of
consuming those goods in a way that doesn’t destroy the planet and
society along the way.
It’s not a bunch of hippies. Indeed, as far from that as is possible.
Big companies, big thinkers, big themes. And the irony of doing this
here, where a liter of water takes four liters of diesel to produce,
isn’t lost on anyone (if it were, having the middle in the middle of a
formula one race track would pound it in).
Anyway. I had two ideas today. One is that if we can trade emissions at
a corporate level, we should be able to trade consumption. So if we can
track consumption of goods, and the sustainability of those goods, we
have the rudiments of a market for consumption. So why not offer
(wealthy, western, northern) people the chance to pay extra for an
offset for their iPad like they do with their
plane
ticket?
My other idea was based on the ever present loyalty cards for grocery
stores, pharmacies, and even cupcake shops in the US. You give away your
personal data in return for lower prices (although I often use the
algorithm of
[local
area code of store] + 867-5309). Why not something similar for
sustainable goods? Either you pay the full price, or you pony up your
data to save the world. Also you get a sticker to put on your computer
to show how much better you are than other people - and that’s big,
because being proud of being a sustainable consumer is currently, and
unfortunately, densely tied to being one.
Doubt either of these works in the real world. Don’t know enough
economics to judge by dead reckoning. But it’s fun to poke a stick in
the hive and see what comes buzzing out.