Personal carbon trading has been shelved by Government after a Defra study concluded it would be too expensive and would not be accepted by the public. In a 2006 speech, then Environment Secretary David Miliband said there was potential to create a system where individuals carried bank cards that stored carbon points which would be deducted when buying energy and could be traded with neighbours. However, Defra has now announced it is suspending its own research on personal carbon trading.