IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cawmdp/84.html

Reducing CO₂ from cars in the European Union: Emission standards or emission trading?

Author

Listed:
  • Paltsev, Sergey
  • Chen, Y.-H. Henry
  • Karplus, Valerie
  • Kishimoto, Paul
  • Reilly, John
  • Loeschel, Andreas
  • von Graevenitz, Kathrine
  • Koesler, Simon

Abstract

CO2 emissions mandates for new light-duty passenger vehicles have recently been adopted in the European Union (EU), which require steady reductions to 95 g CO2/km in 2021. Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, we analyze the impact of the mandates on oil demand, CO2 emissions, and economic welfare, and compare the results to an emission trading scenario that achieves identical emissions reductions. We find that vehicle emission standards reduce CO2 emissions from transportation by about 50 MtCO2 and lower the oil expenditures by about €6 billion, but at a net added cost of €12 billion in 2020. Tightening CO2 standards further after 2021 would cost the EU economy an additional €24-63 billion in 2025 compared with an emission trading system achieving the same economy-wide CO2 reduction. We offer a discussion of the design features for incorporating transport into the emission trading system.

Suggested Citation

  • Paltsev, Sergey & Chen, Y.-H. Henry & Karplus, Valerie & Kishimoto, Paul & Reilly, John & Loeschel, Andreas & von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Koesler, Simon, 2015. "Reducing CO₂ from cars in the European Union: Emission standards or emission trading?," CAWM Discussion Papers 84, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cawmdp:84
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/111663/1/82859290X.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rausch Sebastian & Metcalf Gilbert E. & Reilly John M & Paltsev Sergey, 2010. "Distributional Implications of Alternative U.S. Greenhouse Gas Control Measures," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-46, July.
    2. Heinrichs, Heidi & Jochem, Patrick & Fichtner, Wolf, 2014. "Including road transport in the EU ETS (European Emissions Trading System): A model-based analysis of the German electricity and transport sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 708-720.
    3. Christopher R. Knittel, 2012. "Reducing Petroleum Consumption from Transportation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 93-118, Winter.
    4. Achtnicht, Martin & von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Koesler, Simon & Löschel, Andreas & Schoeman, Beaumont & Tovar Reaños, Miguel Angel, 2015. "Including road transport in the EU-ETS: An alternative for the future?," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 111452.
    5. Arthur, W Brian, 1989. "Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(394), pages 116-131, March.
    6. repec:aen:journl:ej35-si1-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Greene, David L. & Patterson, Philip D. & Singh, Margaret & Li, Jia, 2005. "Feebates, rebates and gas-guzzler taxes: a study of incentives for increased fuel economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 757-775, April.
    8. Greene, David L. & Patterson, Philip D. & Singh, Margaret & Li, Jia, 2005. "Corrigendum to "Feebates, rebates and gas-guzzler taxes: a study of incentives for increased fuel economy" [Energy Policy 33 (2005) 757-775]," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(14), pages 1901-1902, September.
    9. Amrita Chhachhi & Matías Vernengo & Kirsten Ford, 2014. "Everything Must Change so that the IMF Can Remain the Same: The World Economic Outlook and the Global Financial Stability Report," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 1193-1204, September.
    10. Karplus, Valerie J. & Paltsev, Sergey & Babiker, Mustafa & Reilly, John M., 2013. "Applying engineering and fleet detail to represent passenger vehicle transport in a computable general equilibrium model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 295-305.
    11. Requate, Till, 2005. "Dynamic incentives by environmental policy instruments--a survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2-3), pages 175-195, August.
    12. Hunt Allcott & Nathan Wozny, 2014. "Gasoline Prices, Fuel Economy, and the Energy Paradox," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(5), pages 779-795, December.
    13. Xavier Gitiaux & Sebastian Rausch & Sergey Paltsev & John M. Reilly, 2012. "Biofuels, Climate Policy, and the European Vehicle Fleet," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 46(1), pages 1-23, January.
    14. Jaffe Adam B. & Stavins Robert N., 1995. "Dynamic Incentives of Environmental Regulations: The Effects of Alternative Policy Instruments on Technology Diffusion," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 43-63, November.
    15. Meghan R. Busse & Christopher R. Knittel & Florian Zettelmeyer, 2013. "Are Consumers Myopic? Evidence from New and Used Car Purchases," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 220-256, February.
    16. repec:aen:journl:2007v28-01-a02 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Karplus, Valerie J. & Paltsev, Sergey & Reilly, John M., 2010. "Prospects for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the United States and Japan: A general equilibrium analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(8), pages 620-641, October.
    18. Flachsland, Christian & Brunner, Steffen & Edenhofer, Ottmar & Creutzig, Felix, 2011. "Climate policies for road transport revisited (II): Closing the policy gap with cap-and-trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 2100-2110, April.
    19. Soren T. Anderson & James M. Sallee, 2011. "Using Loopholes to Reveal the Marginal Cost of Regulation: The Case of Fuel-Economy Standards," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1375-1409, June.
    20. Karplus, Valerie J. & Paltsev, Sergey & Babiker, Mustafa & Reilly, John M., 2013. "Should a vehicle fuel economy standard be combined with an economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions constraint? Implications for energy and climate policy in the United States," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 322-333.
    21. Valerie J. Karplus & Paul N. Kishimoto & Sergey Paltsev, 2015. "The Global Energy, CO 2 Emissions, and Economic Impact of Vehicle Fuel Economy Standards," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 49(4), pages 517-538, October.
    22. Thomas Klier & Joshua Linn, 2011. "Fuel Prices and New Vehicle Fuel Economy in Europe," Working Papers 1117, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.
    23. Sterner, Thomas, 2012. "Distributional effects of taxing transport fuel," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 75-83.
    24. Raux, Charles & Marlot, Grégoire, 2005. "A system of tradable CO2 permits applied to fuel consumption by motorists," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 255-265, May.
    25. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, 1998. "The Effects of the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency Standards in the US," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 1-33, March.
    26. Raphael Calel & Antoine Dechezleprêtre, 2016. "Environmental Policy and Directed Technological Change: Evidence from the European Carbon Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 173-191, March.
    27. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    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. Sergey Paltsev & Y.-H. Henry Chen & Valerie Karplus & Paul Kishimoto & John Reilly & Andreas Löschel & Kathrine Graevenitz & Simon Koesler, 2018. "Reducing CO2 from cars in the European Union," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 573-595, March.
    2. Paltsev, Sergey & Chen, Y.-H. Henry & Karplus, Valerie & Kishimoto, Paul & Reilly, John, 2015. "CO2 Emissions, Energy, and Economic Impacts of CO2 Mandates for New Cars in Europe," Conference papers 332645, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    3. Rik Rozendaal & Herman Vollebergh, 2025. "Policy-Induced Innovation in Clean Technologies: Evidence from the Car Market," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 565-598.
    4. Allcott, Hunt & Mullainathan, Sendhil & Taubinsky, Dmitry, 2014. "Energy policy with externalities and internalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 72-88.
    5. van den Bijgaart, Inge, 2016. "Essays in environmental economics and policy," Other publications TiSEM 298bee2a-cb08-4173-9fe1-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Konishi, Yoshifumi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2020. "Do regulatory loopholes distort technical change? Evidence from new vehicle launches under the Japanese fuel economy regulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    7. Matsushima, Hiroshi & Khanna, Madhu, "undated". "Revealing Auto-Manufacturers’ Implicit Pricing Strategy under the Reformed CAFE Standard: A Reduced Form Approach," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274421, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Soren T. Anderson & Ian W. H. Parry & James M. Sallee & Carolyn Fischer, 2011. "Automobile Fuel Economy Standards: Impacts, Efficiency, and Alternatives," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 89-108, Winter.
    9. D’Haultfœuille, Xavier & Durrmeyer, Isis & Février, Philippe, 2016. "Disentangling sources of vehicle emissions reduction in France: 2003–2008," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 186-229.
    10. Ciccone, Alice, 2014. "Is it all about CO2 emissions? The environmental effects of a tax reform for new vehicles in Norway," Memorandum 19/2014, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    11. Hunt Allcott & Christopher Knittel, 2019. "Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-37, February.
    12. Randall Wigle, 2019. "The Economic Case for EV Supports? Or: Network Effects, EV Pessimism and EV Supports," LCERPA Working Papers ec0123, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised 23 Oct 2019.
    13. Reyer Gerlagh & Inge Bijgaart & Hans Nijland & Thomas Michielsen, 2018. "Fiscal Policy and $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions of New Passenger Cars in the EU," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(1), pages 103-134, January.
    14. Nicholas Rivers, Randall Wigle, 2018. "An evaluation of policy options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector: The cost-effectiveness of regulations versus emissions pricing," LCERPA Working Papers 0107, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised 01 Jan 2018.
    15. Givord, Pauline & Grislain-Letrémy, Céline & Naegele, Helene, 2018. "How do fuel taxes impact new car purchases? An evaluation using French consumer-level data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 74, pages 76-96.
    16. Wang, Yiwei & Miao, Qing, 2021. "The impact of the corporate average fuel economy standards on technological changes in automobile fuel efficiency," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    17. Xavier D'Haultfœuille & Pauline Givord & Xavier Boutin, 2014. "The Environmental Effect of Green Taxation: The Case of the French Bonus/Malus," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(578), pages 444-480, August.
    18. Sergey Paltsev & Valerie Karplus & Henry Chen & Ioanna Karkatsouli & John Reilly & Henry Jacoby, 2015. "Regulatory control of vehicle and power plant emissions: how effective and at what cost?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 438-457, July.
    19. Kenneth Gillingham & Karen Palmer, 2014. "Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: Policy Insights from Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 8(1), pages 18-38, January.
    20. Doremus, Jacqueline & Helfand, Gloria & Liu, Changzheng & Donahue, Marie & Kahan, Ari & Shelby, Michael, 2019. "Simpler is better: Predicting consumer vehicle purchases in the short run," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1404-1415.

    More about this item

    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:zbw:cawmdp:84. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/camuede.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.