IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v54y2016icp925-931.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of cheaper oil on economic system and climate change: A SWOT analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Qiang
  • Li, Rongrong

Abstract

The drop in crude oil price by nearly half since June 2014 has created new opportunities as well as challenges. This study employs the SWOT method to analyze the impact of cheaper oil on the global economic system and carbon emissions, exploring the climatic opportunities and identifying the challenges of lower oil prices. In addition, it contends that falling oil prices boost economic growth, but produce more carbon pollutants, thereby accelerating global warming. However, cheaper oil has provided a window of opportunity to remove fossil fuel subsidies, a major development that years of climate shaming has failed to achieve. Furthermore, we argue that social factors are a critical, often overlooked threat for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies. With declining oil prices exerting downward pressure on gas and coal, the removal of subsidies and carbon tax can be introduced without raising the energy prices. Four policy recommendations are proposed for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies to limit global warming as well as to meet the challenge and opportunity of cheaper oil. Removal of fossil fuel subsidies should be quickly implemented because this window of opportunity of cheaper oil will not last forever.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2016. "Impact of cheaper oil on economic system and climate change: A SWOT analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 925-931.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:54:y:2016:i:c:p:925-931
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.087
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115011661
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.087?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. de Bruyn, S. M. & van den Bergh, J. C. J. M. & Opschoor, J. B., 1998. "Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 161-175, May.
    2. Hamilton, James D., 1996. "This is what happened to the oil price-macroeconomy relationship," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 215-220, October.
    3. Wang, Qiang, 2011. "Time for commercializing non-food biofuel in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 621-629, January.
    4. Taylor, Margaret, 2008. "Beyond technology-push and demand-pull: Lessons from California's solar policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 2829-2854, November.
    5. Robert B. Barsky & Lutz Kilian, 2004. "Oil and the Macroeconomy Since the 1970s," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 115-134, Fall.
    6. Qiang Wang, 2013. "China has the capacity to lead in carbon trading," Nature, Nature, vol. 493(7432), pages 273-273, January.
    7. Peersman, Gert & Van Robays, Ine, 2012. "Cross-country differences in the effects of oil shocks," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1532-1547.
    8. Finn, Mary G, 2000. "Perfect Competition and the Effects of Energy Price Increases on Economic Activity," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 32(3), pages 400-416, August.
    9. James D. Hamilton, 2009. "Causes and Consequences of the Oil Shock of 2007-08," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 40(1 (Spring), pages 215-283.
    10. Henriques, Irene & Sadorsky, Perry, 2008. "Oil prices and the stock prices of alternative energy companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 998-1010, May.
    11. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Xi, 2015. "Energy policies for managing China’s carbon emission," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 470-479.
    12. Jose de Gregorio & Oscar Landerretche & Christopher Neilson, 2007. "Another Pass-Through Bites the Dust? Oil Prices and Inflation," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 155-208, January.
    13. Peter Hoeller & Markku Wallin, 1991. "Energy Prices, Taxes and Carbon Dioxide Emissions," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 106, OECD Publishing.
    14. Cashin, Paul & Mohaddes, Kamiar & Raissi, Maziar & Raissi, Mehdi, 2014. "The differential effects of oil demand and supply shocks on the global economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 113-134.
    15. Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2015. "Cheaper oil: A turning point in Paris climate talk?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1186-1192.
    16. Sadorsky, Perry, 2012. "Correlations and volatility spillovers between oil prices and the stock prices of clean energy and technology companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 248-255.
    17. Wang, Qiang & Qiu, Huan-Ning & Kuang, Yaoqiu, 2009. "Market-driven energy pricing necessary to ensure China's power supply," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2498-2504, July.
    18. Lutz Kilian, 2014. "Oil Price Shocks: Causes and Consequences," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 133-154, October.
    19. Malte Meinshausen & Nicolai Meinshausen & William Hare & Sarah C. B. Raper & Katja Frieler & Reto Knutti & David J. Frame & Myles R. Allen, 2009. "Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 2 °C," Nature, Nature, vol. 458(7242), pages 1158-1162, April.
    20. Hamilton, James D, 1983. "Oil and the Macroeconomy since World War II," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(2), pages 228-248, April.
    21. Awerbuch, Shimon & Sauter, Raphael, 2006. "Exploiting the oil-GDP effect to support renewables deployment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2805-2819, November.
    22. Lesser, Jonathan A. & Su, Xuejuan, 2008. "Design of an economically efficient feed-in tariff structure for renewable energy development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 981-990, March.
    23. World Bank, 2013. "Global Economic Prospects, June 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13892, December.
    24. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Xi, 2012. "China's electricity market-oriented reform: From an absolute to a relative monopoly," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 143-148.
    25. Mr. Tobias N. Rasmussen & Agustin Roitman, 2011. "Oil Shocks in a Global Perspective: Are they Really That Bad?," IMF Working Papers 2011/194, International Monetary Fund.
    26. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Yong, 2010. "Barriers and opportunities of using the clean development mechanism to advance renewable energy development in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 1989-1998, September.
    27. Qiang Wang, 2014. "China should aim for a total cap on emissions," Nature, Nature, vol. 512(7513), pages 115-115, August.
    28. Gelos, Gaston & Ustyugova, Yulia, 2017. "Inflation responses to commodity price shocks – How and why do countries differ?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 28-47.
    29. John M. Piotrowski & David Coady & Justin Tyson & Rolando Ossowski & Robert Gillingham & Shamsuddin Tareq, 2010. "Petroleum Product Subsidies; Costly, Inequitable, and On the Rise," IMF Staff Position Notes 2010/05, International Monetary Fund.
    30. Knut Anton Mork & Oystein Olsen & Hans Terje Mysen, 1994. "Macroeconomic Responses to Oil Price Increases and Decreases in Seven OECD Countries," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 19-36.
    31. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Xi & Jha, Awadhesh N. & Rogers, Howard, 2014. "Natural gas from shale formation – The evolution, evidences and challenges of shale gas revolution in United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1-28.
    32. Sadorsky, Perry, 2009. "Renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and oil prices in the G7 countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 456-462, May.
    33. Marianne Haug, 2011. "Clean energy and international oil," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 27(1), pages 92-116, Spring.
    34. Urge-Vorsatz, Diana & Miladinova, Gergana & Paizs, Laszlo, 2006. "Energy in transition: From the iron curtain to the European Union," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(15), pages 2279-2297, October.
    35. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Yong, 2010. "Status and outlook of China's free-carbon electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 1014-1025, April.
    36. David L. Reifschneider & Robert J. Tetlow & John Williams, 1999. "Aggregate disturbances, monetary policy, and the macroeconomy: the FRB/US perspective," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 85(Jan), pages 1-19, January.
    37. Wang, Qiang, 2010. "Effective policies for renewable energy--the example of China's wind power--lessons for China's photovoltaic power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 702-712, February.
    38. Wiser, Ryan & Pickle, Steven & Goldman, Charles, 1998. "Renewable energy policy and electricity restructuring: a California case study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 465-475, May.
    39. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Xi, 2013. "Rethinking and reshaping the climate policy: Literature review and proposed guidelines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 469-477.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bilgili, Faik & Mugaloglu, Erhan & Koçak, Emrah, 2018. "The impact of oil prices on CO2 emissions in China: A Wavelet coherence approach," MPRA Paper 90170, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Min Su & Rui Jiang & Rongrong Li, 2017. "Investigating Low-Carbon Agriculture: Case Study of China’s Henan Province," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Rongrong Li & Rui Jiang, 2017. "Moving Low-Carbon Construction Industry in Jiangsu Province: Evidence from Decomposition and Decoupling Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-14, June.
    4. Rongrong Li & Min Su, 2017. "The Role of Natural Gas and Renewable Energy in Curbing Carbon Emission: Case Study of the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Javier Mendoza Jiménez & Montserrat Hernández López & Susana Eva Franco Escobar, 2019. "Sustainable Public Procurement: From Law to Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-23, November.
    6. Ahmed Gailani & Tracey Crosbie & Maher Al-Greer & Michael Short & Nashwan Dawood, 2020. "On the Role of Regulatory Policy on the Business Case for Energy Storage in Both EU and UK Energy Systems: Barriers and Enablers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, March.
    7. Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2016. "Sino-Venezuelan oil-for-loan deal – the Chinese strategic gamble?#," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 817-822.
    8. Elvis Dze Achuo, 2022. "The nexus between crude oil price shocks and environmental quality: empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(7), pages 1-15, July.
    9. Chun Deng & Jie-Fang Dong, 2016. "Coal Consumption Reduction in Shandong Province: A Dynamic Vector Autoregression Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Rui Jiang & Rongrong Li, 2017. "Decomposition and Decoupling Analysis of Life-Cycle Carbon Emission in China’s Building Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    11. Shuyu Li & Rongrong Li, 2017. "Comparison of Forecasting Energy Consumption in Shandong, China Using the ARIMA Model, GM Model, and ARIMA-GM Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, July.
    12. Qiang Wang & Rongrong Li & Rui Jiang, 2016. "Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis of Carbon Emissions from Industry: A Case Study from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-17, October.
    13. Wang, Qiang & Jiang, Xue-ting & Li, Rongrong, 2017. "Comparative decoupling analysis of energy-related carbon emission from electric output of electricity sector in Shandong Province, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 78-88.
    14. Olexandr Yemelyanov & Anastasiya Symak & Tetyana Petrushka & Roman Lesyk & Lilia Lesyk, 2018. "Evaluation of the Adaptability of the Ukrainian Economy to Changes in Prices for Energy Carriers and to Energy Market Risks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-34, December.
    15. Xiaoping Zhu & Rongrong Li, 2017. "An Analysis of Decoupling and Influencing Factors of Carbon Emissions from the Transportation Sector in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-19, April.
    16. Jie-Fang Dong & Chun Deng & Xing-Min Wang & Xiao-Lei Zhang, 2016. "Multilevel Index Decomposition of Energy-Related Carbon Emissions and Their Decoupling from Economic Growth in Northwest China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Jiefang Dong & Chun Deng & Rongrong Li & Jieyu Huang, 2016. "Moving Low-Carbon Transportation in Xinjiang: Evidence from STIRPAT and Rigid Regression Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
    18. Lenhard, L.G. & Andersen, S.M. & Coimbra-Araújo, C.H., 2018. "Energy-Environmental Implications Of Shale Gas Exploration In Paraná Hydrological Basin, Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 56-69.
    19. Badeeb, Ramez Abubakr & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2020. "Are too many natural resources to blame for the shape of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in resource-based economies?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    20. Niu, Dong-xiao & Song, Zong-yun & Xiao, Xin-li, 2017. "Electric power substitution for coal in China: Status quo and SWOT analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 610-622.
    21. Xue-Ting Jiang & Jie-Fang Dong & Xing-Min Wang & Rong-Rong Li, 2016. "The Multilevel Index Decomposition of Energy-Related Carbon Emission and Its Decoupling with Economic Growth in USA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, August.
    22. Rui Jiang & Yulin Zhou & Rongrong Li, 2018. "Moving to a Low-Carbon Economy in China: Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis of Emission and Economy from a Sector Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, March.
    23. Abdollah Mahmoodi, 2017. "Oil price reduction impacts on the Iranian economy," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 35(2), pages 353-374.

    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. John Baffes & M. Ayhan Kose & Franziska Ohnsorge & Marc Stocker, 2015. "The Great Plunge in Oil Prices: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses," Policy Research Notes (PRNs) 94725, The World Bank.
    2. Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2016. "Journey to burning half of global coal: Trajectory and drivers of China׳s coal use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 341-346.
    3. Rui Jiang & Rongrong Li, 2017. "Decomposition and Decoupling Analysis of Life-Cycle Carbon Emission in China’s Building Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Wang, Qiang & Jiang, Xue-ting & Li, Rongrong, 2017. "Comparative decoupling analysis of energy-related carbon emission from electric output of electricity sector in Shandong Province, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 78-88.
    5. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Xi & Jha, Awadhesh N. & Rogers, Howard, 2014. "Natural gas from shale formation – The evolution, evidences and challenges of shale gas revolution in United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1-28.
    6. Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2015. "Cheaper oil: A turning point in Paris climate talk?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1186-1192.
    7. Jie-Fang Dong & Chun Deng & Xing-Min Wang & Xiao-Lei Zhang, 2016. "Multilevel Index Decomposition of Energy-Related Carbon Emissions and Their Decoupling from Economic Growth in Northwest China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Lang, Korbinian & Auer, Benjamin R., 2020. "The economic and financial properties of crude oil: A review," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    9. World Bank Group, 2015. "Global Economic Prospects, January 2015 : Having Fiscal Space and Using It," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 20758, December.
    10. Qiang Wang & Rongrong Li & Rui Jiang, 2016. "Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis of Carbon Emissions from Industry: A Case Study from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-17, October.
    11. Rongrong Li & Xue-Ting Jiang, 2017. "Inequality of Carbon Intensity: Empirical Analysis of China 2000–2014," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-12, April.
    12. Xue-Ting Jiang & Jie-Fang Dong & Xing-Min Wang & Rong-Rong Li, 2016. "The Multilevel Index Decomposition of Energy-Related Carbon Emission and Its Decoupling with Economic Growth in USA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, August.
    13. Broadstock, David C. & Filis, George, 2014. "Oil price shocks and stock market returns: New evidence from the United States and China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 417-433.
    14. Christiane Baumeister & Gert Peersman, 2013. "Time-Varying Effects of Oil Supply Shocks on the US Economy," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 1-28, October.
    15. Stavros Degiannakis, George Filis, and Vipin Arora, 2018. "Oil Prices and Stock Markets: A Review of the Theory and Empirical Evidence," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 5).
    16. Degiannakis, Stavros & Filis, George & Floros, Christos, 2013. "Oil and stock returns: Evidence from European industrial sector indices in a time-varying environment," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 175-191.
    17. Wang, Qiang & Chen, Xi, 2015. "Energy policies for managing China’s carbon emission," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 470-479.
    18. Ana Gómez-Loscos & Mar𨀠 Dolores Gadea & Antonio Montañ鳠, 2012. "Economic growth, inflation and oil shocks: are the 1970s coming back?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(35), pages 4575-4589, December.
    19. Lorusso, Marco & Pieroni, Luca, 2018. "Causes and consequences of oil price shocks on the UK economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 223-236.
    20. Grzegorz Przekota & Anna Szczepańska-Przekota, 2022. "Pro-Inflationary Impact of the Oil Market—A Study for Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, April.

    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:rensus:v:54:y:2016:i:c:p:925-931. 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.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    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.