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Personal carbon trading and fuel price increases in the transport sector: an exploratory study of public response in the UK

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  • Harwatt, Helen
  • Tight, Miles
  • Bristow, Abigail L.
  • Gühnemann, Astrid

Abstract

Large reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are required in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Road transport is a significant contributor to UK CO2 emissions, with the majority arising from personal road transport. This paper analyses Personal Carbon Trading (PCT) as a potentially powerful climate change policy tool and presents findings from an exploratory survey of public opinion. A working model of a PCT scheme with a fixed carbon cap was designed to achieve a 60% reduction of CO2 emissions from personal road transport by 2050. A proportion of the annual carbon budget would be given to individuals as a free carbon permit allocation. There is an opportunity to sell unused permits. Fuel price increases (FPI) were recognised as having the potential to achieve an identical emissions target at a much lower cost. A series of individual interviews were conducted to explore opinions related to the impacts, effectiveness, fairness and acceptability of both measures. Bespoke software was used to record behavioural response. The findings indicate that certain design aspects of the PCT scheme led to it being preferred to the FPI and suggest that the potential behavioural response to PCT may be greater than for a FPI. However, given that the sample was small and biased towards the highly educated and those with above average incomes, the findings should be considered as preliminary indications. Further detailed research is required.

Suggested Citation

  • Harwatt, Helen & Tight, Miles & Bristow, Abigail L. & Gühnemann, Astrid, 2011. "Personal carbon trading and fuel price increases in the transport sector: an exploratory study of public response in the UK," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 47, pages 47-70.
    • Handle: RePEc:sot:journl:y:2011:i:47:p:47-70
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    Cited by:

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    2. Dogterom, Nico & Ettema, Dick & Dijst, Martin, 2018. "Behavioural effects of a tradable driving credit scheme: Results of an online stated adaptation experiment in the Netherlands," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 52-64.
    3. Alberto M. Zanni & Abigail L. Bristow & Mark Wardman, 2013. "The potential behavioural effect of personal carbon trading: results from an experimental survey," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 222-243, July.
    4. Dogterom, Nico & Ettema, Dick & Dijst, Martin, 2018. "Activity-travel adaptations in response to a tradable driving credits scheme," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 79-88.
    5. Fan, Jin & Wang, Shanyong & Wu, Yanrui & Li, Jun & Zhao, Dingtao, 2015. "Buffer effect and price effect of a personal carbon trading scheme," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 601-610.
    6. Fan, Wenbo & Xiao, Feng & Nie, Yu (Macro), 2022. "Managing bottleneck congestion with tradable credits under asymmetric transaction cost," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
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    8. Wenjie Chen & Xiaogang Wu & Zhu Xiao, 2023. "Impact of Environmental Policy Mix on Carbon Emission Reduction and Social Welfare: Scenario Simulation Based on Private Vehicle Trajectory Big Data," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-18, August.
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    10. Krabbenborg, Lizet & van Langevelde-van Bergen, Chris & Molin, Eric, 2021. "Public support for tradable peak credit schemes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 243-259.
    11. Tan, Xueping & Wang, Xinyu & Zaidi, Syed Haider Ali, 2019. "What drives public willingness to participate in the voluntary personal carbon-trading scheme? A case study of Guangzhou Pilot, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    12. H. M. Abdul Aziz & Satish V. Ukkusuri & Xianyuan Zhan, 2017. "Determining the Impact of Personal Mobility Carbon Allowance Schemes in Transportation Networks," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 505-545, June.

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