IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bcu/greewp/greenwp24.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Car Industry and Climate Change: A Historical Review

Author

Listed:
  • Mattias Nasman
  • Grace Ballor

Abstract

In the second half of the twentieth century, the car industry became a lightning rod for debates about human contributions to climate change. Widespread motorisation galvanised the green movements of the 1960s and 1970s, regulators increasingly demanded the use of pollution and climate mitigation technologies, and carmakers responded to this changing consumer and regulatory environment by gradually observing stricter emissions standards and innovating away from combustible engines at the turn of the millennium. This paper traces the arc of the relationship between car manufacturing and climate change through a business historical lens, from the development of internal combustion engines and their alternatives to the political economy of an energy transition and the decision to prioritise electric vehicles. Our analysis aims to lay a foundation for further research on industry and climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Mattias Nasman & Grace Ballor, 2024. "The Car Industry and Climate Change: A Historical Review," GREEN Working Papers 24, GREEN, Centre for Research on Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy & Networks, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcu:greewp:greenwp24
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.unibocconi.it/iefe/bcu/papers/GREEN_wp24.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joshua Linn, 2016. "The Rebound Effect for Passenger Vehicles," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    2. Ballor, Grace & Pitteloud, Sabine, 2023. "Introduction: Capitalism and Global Governance in Business History," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(3), pages 459-479, September.
    3. Collantes, Gustavo & Sperling, Daniel, 2008. "The origin of California's zero emission vehicle mandate," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 1302-1313, December.
    4. Joshua Linn, 2016. "The Rebound Effect for Passenger Vehicles," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(2), pages 257-288, April.
    5. Tommaso Pardi, 2021. "Prospects and contradictions of the electrification of the European automotive industry: the role of European Union policy," International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 21(3), pages 162-179.
    6. Sperling, Dan & Collantes, Gustavo O, 2008. "The origin of California’s zero emission vehicle mandate," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt9pd8m8gs, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    7. Tommaso Pardi, 2021. "Prospects and contradictions of the electrification of the European automotive industry: the role of European Union policy," Post-Print hal-03102947, HAL.
    8. Josef Taalbi & Hana Nielsen, 2021. "The role of energy infrastructure in shaping early adoption of electric and gasoline cars," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(10), pages 970-976, October.
    9. Jones, Geoffrey, 2017. "Profits and Sustainability: A History of Green Entrepreneurship," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198706977, Decembrie.
    10. Neil Rollings, 2023. "The development of transnational business associations during the twentieth century," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(2), pages 235-259, February.
    11. Godek, Paul E, 1997. "The Regulation of Fuel Economy and the Demand for "Light Trucks."," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 495-509, October.
    12. Bergquist, Ann-Kristin, 2019. "Renewing Business History in the Era of the Anthropocene," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(1), pages 3-24, April.
    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. Jenn, Alan & Azevedo, Inês L. & Michalek, Jeremy J., 2019. "Alternative-fuel-vehicle policy interactions increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 396-407.
    2. Rhodes, Ekaterina & Scott, William A. & Jaccard, Mark, 2021. "Designing flexible regulations to mitigate climate change: A cross-country comparative policy analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    3. Bhardwaj, Chandan & Axsen, Jonn & Kern, Florian & McCollum, David, 2020. "Why have multiple climate policies for light-duty vehicles? Policy mix rationales, interactions and research gaps," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 309-326.
    4. Mamkhezri, Jamal & Khezri, Mohsen, 2024. "Vehicle miles traveled induced demand, rebound effect, and price and income elasticities: A US spatial econometric analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 224-240.
    5. repec:fan:istois:v:html10.3280/isto2022-045001 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Iogansen, Xiatian & Wang, Kailai & Bunch, David & Matson, Grant & Circella, Giovanni, 2023. "Deciphering the factors associated with adoption of alternative fuel vehicles in California: An investigation of latent attitudes, socio-demographics, and neighborhood effects," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. J. H. Wesseling & E. M. M. I. Niesten & J. Faber & M. P. Hekkert, 2015. "Business Strategies of Incumbents in the Market for Electric Vehicles: Opportunities and Incentives for Sustainable Innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 518-531, September.
    8. Liane Pinho Santos & João F. Proença, 2022. "Developing Return Supply Chain: A Research on the Automotive Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-24, May.
    9. Li, Xiaotao & Yuan, Xiaodong, 2022. "Tracing the technology transfer of battery electric vehicles in China: A patent citation organization network analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    10. Jack N. Barkenbus, 2020. "Prospects for Electric Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-13, July.
    11. Kantapich Preedakorn & David Butler & Jörn Mehnen, 2023. "Challenges for the Adoption of Electric Vehicles in Thailand: Potential Impacts, Barriers, and Public Policy Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-21, June.
    12. Clara Ma & Cristina Peñasco & Laura Díaz Anadón, 2025. "Technology innovation and environmental outcomes of road transportation policy instruments," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Bakker, Sjoerd, 2010. "The car industry and the blow-out of the hydrogen hype," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6540-6544, November.
    14. Gu, Gaoxiang & Wang, Zheng, 2018. "China’s carbon emissions abatement under industrial restructuring by investment restriction," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 133-144.
    15. Collantes, Gustavo & Melaina, Marc W., 2011. "The co-evolution of alternative fuel infrastructure and vehicles: A study of the experience of Argentina with compressed natural gas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 664-675, February.
    16. Yeh, Sonia & Burtraw, Dallas & Sterner, Thomas & Greene, David, 2021. "Tradable performance standards in the transportation sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Zakerinia, Saleh, 2018. "Understanding the Role of Transportation in Meeting California’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Target: A Focus on Technology Forcing Policies, Interactions with the Electric Sector and Mitigation," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt0r69m651, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    18. Collantes, Gustavo & Kessler, Jeff & Cahill, Eric, 2017. "Structural Determinants of Electric Vehicle Market Growth," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt8d15487b, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    19. Dmitry V. Pelegov & Jean-Jacques Chanaron, 2022. "Electric Car Market Analysis Using Open Data: Sales, Volatility Assessment, and Forecasting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    20. Helveston, John Paul & Liu, Yimin & Feit, Elea McDonnell & Fuchs, Erica & Klampfl, Erica & Michalek, Jeremy J., 2015. "Will subsidies drive electric vehicle adoption? Measuring consumer preferences in the U.S. and China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 96-112.
    21. Asna Ashari, Parsa & Blind, Knut & Koch, Claudia, 2023. "Knowledge and technology transfer via publications, patents, standards: Exploring the hydrogen technological innovation system," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    environmental history; business history; automakers; regulation; climate governance;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bcu:greewp:greenwp24. 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: Carlotta Milani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eabocit.html .

    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.