IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v109y2023ics0969699723000261.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Aviation and carbon emissions: Evidence from airport operations

Author

Listed:
  • Xiong, Xueli
  • Song, Xiaomeng
  • Kaygorodova, Anna
  • Ding, Xichun
  • Guo, Lijia
  • Huang, Jiashun

Abstract

Carbon emissions have become a significant concern for the development of the aviation industry. Current studies provide valuable insights into aircraft and airport construction's effect on carbon emissions at a micro level, while the impact of airport operations on cities' carbon emissions at a macro level remains under-investigated. This study investigates whether and how airport operation would affect cities' carbon emissions. This study draws a causality relying on a quasi-natural experiment based on airport operation shock events that increased certain cities' transportation options and changed cities' economic activities and carbon emissions. A total of 4938 datasets among 280 China's prefecture-level cities during the period 1999–2017 are analysed via the Difference-in-Differences model. Our estimation results show that airport operation significantly increases cities' carbon emissions, with a 4.3% increase in carbon emissions in cities that opened new airports compared to those cities without new airport operations. The mediation effect indicates that the substitution impact of transport increases cities' carbon emissions by 0.3%. Furthermore, increasing the science and technology expenditure ratio can offset the impact of airport operations on cities' carbon emissions. Our study provides implications for policymakers and stakeholders concerning mitigating carbon emissions to promote the green aviation industry and optimise airport construction and operation.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiong, Xueli & Song, Xiaomeng & Kaygorodova, Anna & Ding, Xichun & Guo, Lijia & Huang, Jiashun, 2023. "Aviation and carbon emissions: Evidence from airport operations," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:109:y:2023:i:c:s0969699723000261
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2023.102383
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699723000261
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2023.102383?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dixit, Aasheesh & Kumar, Patanjal & Jakhar, Suresh Kumar, 2022. "Effectiveness of carbon tax and congestion cost in improving the airline industry greening level and welfare: A case of two competing airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. O’Connell, Adrian & Kousoulidou, Marina & Lonza, Laura & Weindorf, Werner, 2019. "Considerations on GHG emissions and energy balances of promising aviation biofuel pathways," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 504-515.
    3. Paul Chiambaretto & Elodie Mayenc & Hervé Chappert & Juliane Engsig & Anne-Sophie Fernandez & Frédéric Le Roy, 2021. "Where does flygskam come from? The role of citizens’ lack of knowledge of the environmental impact of air transport in explaining the development of flight shame," Post-Print hal-03514706, HAL.
    4. Chiambaretto, Paul & Mayenc, Elodie & Chappert, Hervé & Engsig, Juliane & Fernandez, Anne-Sophie & Le Roy, Frédéric, 2021. "Where does flygskam come from? The role of citizens’ lack of knowledge of the environmental impact of air transport in explaining the development of flight shame," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Lo, Pak Lam & Martini, Gianmaria & Porta, Flavio & Scotti, Davide, 2020. "The determinants of CO2 emissions of air transport passenger traffic: An analysis of Lombardy (Italy)," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 108-119.
    6. Staples, Mark D. & Malina, Robert & Suresh, Pooja & Hileman, James I. & Barrett, Steven R.H., 2018. "Aviation CO2 emissions reductions from the use of alternative jet fuels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 342-354.
    7. Güner, Samet & Cebeci, Halil İbrahim & Antunes, Jorge Junio Moreira & Wanke, Peter F., 2021. "Sustainable efficiency drivers in Eurasian airports: Fuzzy NDEA approach based on Shannon's entropy," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Chen, Lihong & Ren, Jingzheng, 2018. "Multi-attribute sustainability evaluation of alternative aviation fuels based on fuzzy ANP and fuzzy grey relational analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 176-186.
    9. Fageda, Xavier & Teixidó, Jordi J., 2022. "Pricing carbon in the aviation sector: Evidence from the European emissions trading system," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    10. Sun, Chuanwang & Zhang, Wenyue & Luo, Yuan & Xu, Yonghong, 2019. "The improvement and substitution effect of transportation infrastructure on air quality: An empirical evidence from China's rail transit construction," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 949-957.
    11. Filipe Campante & David Yanagizawa-Drott, 2018. "Long-Range Growth: Economic Development in the Global Network of Air Links," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1395-1458.
    12. Liu, Xiaochen & Zhang, Tao & Liu, Xiaohua & Li, Lingshan & Lin, Lin & Jiang, Yi, 2021. "Energy saving potential for space heating in Chinese airport terminals: The impact of air infiltration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PB).
    13. Ming Wei & Congxin Yang & Tao Liu, 2022. "An Integrated Multi-Objective Optimization for Dynamic Airport Shuttle Bus Location, Route Design and Departure Frequency Setting Problem," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-20, November.
    14. Haroldo V. Ribeiro & Diego Rybski & Jürgen P. Kropp, 2019. "Effects of changing population or density on urban carbon dioxide emissions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    15. Fangni Zhang & Daniel J. Graham, 2020. "Air transport and economic growth: a review of the impact mechanism and causal relationships," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 506-528, July.
    16. Achour, Houda & Belloumi, Mounir, 2016. "Investigating the causal relationship between transport infrastructure, transport energy consumption and economic growth in Tunisia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 988-998.
    17. Hu, Rong & Xiao, Yi-bin & Jiang, Changmin, 2018. "Jet fuel hedging, operational fuel efficiency improvement and carbon tax," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 103-123.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Jiqiang & Wang, Ya & Zhang, Shaohui & Fan, Chun & Zhou, Nanqing & Liu, Jinhui & Li, Xin & Liu, Yun & Hou, Xiujun & Yi, Bowen, 2024. "Accounting of aviation carbon emission in developing countries based on flight-level ADS-B data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    2. Zhang, Peiwen & Ding, Rui, 2023. "How to achieve carbon abatement in aviation with hybrid mechanism? A stochastic evolutionary game model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    3. Hamdan, Sadeque & Jouini, Oualid & Cheaitou, Ali & Jemai, Zied & Granberg, Tobias Andersson & Josefsson, Billy, 2022. "Air traffic flow management under emission policies: Analyzing the impact of sustainable aviation fuel and different carbon prices," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 14-40.
    4. Osorio, Pilar & Cadarso, María-Ángeles & Tobarra, María-Ángeles & García-Alaminos, Ángela, 2023. "Carbon footprint of tourism in Spain: Covid-19 impact and a look forward to recovery," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 303-318.
    5. Ahmad, Salman & Ouenniche, Jamal & Kolosz, Ben W. & Greening, Philip & Andresen, John M. & Maroto-Valer, M. Mercedes & Xu, Bing, 2021. "A stakeholders’ participatory approach to multi-criteria assessment of sustainable aviation fuels production pathways," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    6. Prussi, Matteo & Lee, Uisung & Wang, Michael & Malina, Robert & Valin, Hugo & Taheripour, Farzad & Velarde, César & Staples, Mark D. & Lonza, Laura & Hileman, James I., 2021. "CORSIA: The first internationally adopted approach to calculate life-cycle GHG emissions for aviation fuels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    7. Klophaus, Richard & Lauth, Gregor Julius, 2022. "Monetary mapping of the climate footprint of air travel to a single airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    8. Lin, Boqiang & Chen, Yu, 2019. "Will economic infrastructure development affect the energy intensity of China's manufacturing industry?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 122-131.
    9. Kang, Yicheng & Liao, Sha & Jiang, Changmin & D’Alfonso, Tiziana, 2022. "Synthetic control methods for policy analysis: Evaluating the effect of the European Emission Trading System on aviation supply," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 236-252.
    10. Pouget, Lilian & Ribeiro, Nuno Antunes & Odoni, Amedeo R. & Antunes, António Pais, 2023. "How do airlines react to slot displacements? Evidence from a major airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    11. Md Arif Hasan & Abdullah Al Mamun & Syed Masiur Rahman & Karim Malik & Md. Iqram Uddin Al Amran & Abu Nasser Khondaker & Omer Reshi & Surya Prakash Tiwari & Fahad Saleh Alismail, 2021. "Climate Change Mitigation Pathways for the Aviation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-29, March.
    12. Wang, Yongpei & Guan, Zhongyu & Zhang, Qian, 2023. "Railway opening and carbon emissions in distressed areas: Evidence from China's state-level poverty-stricken counties," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 55-67.
    13. Olusegun Peter Olaoye & Aderemi Timothy Ayomitunde & Nwagwu Chinedu John & Yvonne Jude-Okeke & Azuh Dominic Ezinwa, 2020. "Energy Consumption and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in Nigeria: An Empirical Perspective," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(2), pages 491-496.
    14. Chen, Maggie Xiaoyang & Lin, Chuanhao, 2020. "Geographic connectivity and cross-border investment: The Belts, Roads and Skies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    15. Lukáš Dvořáček & Martin Horák & Jaroslav Knápek, 2022. "Simulation of Electric Vehicle Charging Points Based on Efficient Use of Chargers and Using Recuperated Braking Energy from Trains," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-28, January.
    16. Namahoro, J.P. & Wu, Q. & Su, H., 2023. "Wind energy, industrial-economic development and CO2 emissions nexus: Do droughts matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    17. Huang, Liqiao & Long, Yin & Chen, Jundong & Yoshida, Yoshikuni, 2023. "Sustainable lifestyle: Urban household carbon footprint accounting and policy implications for lifestyle-based decarbonization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    18. Mayeres, Inge & Proost, Stef & Delhaye, Eef & Novelli, Philippe & Conijn, Sjaak & Gómez-Jiménez, Inmaculada & Rivas-Brousse, Daniel, 2023. "Climate ambitions for European aviation: Where can sustainable aviation fuels bring us?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    19. Nicholas Sheard, 2019. "Airport Size and Urban Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(342), pages 300-335, April.
    20. Stephan Maurer & Ferdinand Rauch, 2023. "Economic geography aspects of the Panama Canal," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(1), pages 142-162.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:109:y:2023:i:c:s0969699723000261. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.