The European Union aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050. A viral post claims the union recently announced a new initiative to help reach that goal.
"BREAKING: The European Union just introduced the first step of a personal carbon credit system," reads a Dec. 18 Instagram post (direct link, archive link). "Every citizen will have to start paying for their carbon emissions in an effort to cut emissions by 55% by 2030. Do you see now why banks & airlines etc were already tracking it?"
The post is a screenshot of a Dec. 18 tweet that was retweeted nearly 15,000 times in four days. Screenshots of it have since circulated on other social media platforms, like Facebook.
This post mischaracterizes the new initiative, however. While the union implemented new carbon taxes, those are applied at the company level, not to individuals.
USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the post for comment.
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