Driving restrictions, traffic speeds and carbon emissions: Evidence from high-frequency data

Tianshu Li, Shunfeng Song and Yanmin Yang

China Economic Review, 2022, vol. 74, issue C

Abstract: We investigate the effect of driving restrictions on traffic speeds and calculate the implied reduction in carbon emissions using empirical evidence from the city of Xi'an in China. We obtain high-frequency road-section-level transportation data from the Didi Chuxing Technology Company and use a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to identify the causal effect of driving restrictions on vehicle cruising speeds by exploiting a policy variation in 2018. We find that the driving restrictions led to an increase in vehicle cruising speeds of up to 15–20% during peak hours, which consequently dramatically reduced carbon emissions. Based on our back-of-the-envelope calculations, carbon emissions from private vehicles could be reduced by 2.2–5.8% thanks to increased fuel efficiency due to less traffic congestion.

Keywords: Carbon emissions; Driving restrictions; Congestion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chieco:v:74:y:2022:i:c:s1043951x22000694

DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2022.101811

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