IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v153y2024icp24-38.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differences in perceptions of fuel duties and emissions trading in road transport

Author

Listed:
  • Peñafiel-Mera, Allan
  • Santos, Georgina

Abstract

The transport sector is responsible for around 20% of global CO2 emissions, and road transport alone contributes to three-quarters of that share. A separate Emissions Trading System (ETS) in the EU will be implemented in 2027, covering road transport, buildings and additional sectors (mainly small industry). The likely outcomes of such policy are higher fuel prices, leading to less fuel consumption and reduced road transport emissions. Given that the inclusion of road transport in the EU ETS was originally proposed by the UK in the 2000s, and that the UK is exploring possible improvements to its own UK ETS, it is not impossible that the idea of emissions trading in road transport could be revisited in the UK. This article explores differences in perceptions of fuel price increases as a result of an increase in fuel duties or as a result of the introduction of a parallel ETS for road transport. This research employs a Serious Game to elicit perceptions. The game was designed to create situations where car drivers would need to make decisions in response to an increase in the pump price of fuel. Ultimately, the idea was to get the study participants to reflect on their travel decisions both in the game and in real life. Possible responses included changing their cars, modifying their travel behaviour and moving house. The data was analyzed using an interpretive approach, which contributed to the understanding of how participants experience and rationalize their decisions after fuel price increases. The main finding is that emissions trading seems to be seen more positively than an increase in fuel duties. The study participants associated emissions trading with a reduction in GHG emissions, and fuel duty increases to an increase in pump prices. When they were reminded that emissions trading would also cause pump prices to increase, they still seemed to be open to the idea of such a policy, and when they were reminded that the increase in fuel duties would also be aimed at reducing GHG emissions, they changed their attitude slightly towards a more positive one.

Suggested Citation

  • Peñafiel-Mera, Allan & Santos, Georgina, 2024. "Differences in perceptions of fuel duties and emissions trading in road transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 24-38.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:153:y:2024:i:c:p:24-38
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2023.11.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X23003074
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2023.11.006?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. 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.
    2. Santos, Georgina & Rembalski, Sebastian, 2021. "Do electric vehicles need subsidies in the UK?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Charles Raux, 2002. "The Use of Transferable Permits in the Transport Sector," Post-Print halshs-00080454, HAL.
    4. Santos, Georgina, 2017. "Road fuel taxes in Europe: Do they internalize road transport externalities?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 120-134.
    5. Santos, Georgina, 2022. "Climate change policy and carbon pricing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    6. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Santos, Georgina & Davies, Huw, 2020. "Incentives for quick penetration of electric vehicles in five European countries: Perceptions from experts and stakeholders," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 326-342.
    8. Harju, Jarkko & Kosonen, Tuomas & Laukkanen, Marita & Palanne, Kimmo, 2022. "The heterogeneous incidence of fuel carbon taxes: Evidence from station-level data," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    9. Aldy, Joseph E. & Ley, Eduardo & Parry, Ian, 2008. "A Tax–Based Approach to Slowing Global Climate Change," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 61(3), pages 493-517, September.
    10. Ovaere, Marten & Proost, Stef, 2022. "Cost-effective reduction of fossil energy use in the European transport sector: An assessment of the Fit for 55 Package," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. 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.
    12. Katharine Ricke & Laurent Drouet & Ken Caldeira & Massimo Tavoni, 2018. "Country-level social cost of carbon," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(10), pages 895-900, October.
    13. Sterner, Thomas, 2007. "Fuel taxes: An important instrument for climate policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 3194-3202, June.
    14. 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.
    15. Charles Raux, 2010. "The potential for CO2 emissions trading in transport: the case of personal vehicles and freight," Post-Print halshs-00566195, HAL.
    16. Kok, Robert, 2015. "Six years of CO2-based tax incentives for new passenger cars in The Netherlands: Impacts on purchasing behavior trends and CO2 effectiveness," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 137-153.
    17. Daniel Ellsberg, 1961. "Risk, Ambiguity, and the Savage Axioms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 75(4), pages 643-669.
    18. 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.
    19. Makena Coffman & Paul Bernstein & Sherilyn Wee, 2017. "Electric vehicles revisited: a review of factors that affect adoption," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 79-93, January.
    20. Kallbekken, Steffen & Aasen, Marianne, 2010. "The demand for earmarking: Results from a focus group study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2183-2190, September.
    21. Scott C. Merrill & Christopher J. Koliba & Susan M. Moegenburg & Asim Zia & Jason Parker & Timothy Sellnow & Serge Wiltshire & Gabriela Bucini & Caitlin Danehy & Julia M. Smith, 2018. "Decision-making in Livestock Biosecurity Practices amidst Environmental and Social Uncertainty: Evidence from an Experimental Game," Papers 1811.01081, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2019.
    22. Davide Cerruti & Anna Alberini & Joshua Linn, 2019. "Charging Drivers by the Pound: How Does the UK Vehicle Tax System Affect CO2 Emissions?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(1), pages 99-129, September.
    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. Xiao-Yi Li & Bao-Jun Tang, 2017. "Incorporating the transport sector into carbon emission trading scheme: an overview and outlook," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 88(2), pages 683-698, September.
    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. Philip, Thara & Whitehead, Jake & Prato, Carlo G., 2023. "Adoption of electric vehicles in a laggard, car-dependent nation: Investigating the potential influence of V2G and broader energy benefits on adoption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Wadud, Zia & Chintakayala, Phani Kumar, 2019. "Personal Carbon Trading: Trade-off and Complementarity Between In-home and Transport Related Emissions Reduction," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 397-408.
    5. Santos, Georgina & Rembalski, Sebastian, 2021. "Do electric vehicles need subsidies in the UK?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    6. Mattauch, Linus & van den Bijgaart, Inge & Klenert, David & Sulikova, Simona, 2020. "Optimal fuel taxation with suboptimal health choices," INET Oxford Working Papers 2020-22, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    7. 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).
    8. 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.
    9. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Maconi, Laura & Shirvani, Tara & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part I: Externalities and economic policies in road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 2-45.
    10. Christina Leuker & Thorsten Pachur & Ralph Hertwig & Timothy J. Pleskac, 2019. "Do people exploit risk–reward structures to simplify information processing in risky choice?," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 5(1), pages 76-94, August.
    11. Itzhak Gilboa & Andrew Postlewaite & Larry Samuelson & David Schmeidler, 2019. "What are axiomatizations good for?," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 86(3), pages 339-359, May.
    12. Liu, Hui-hui & Song, Yao-yao & Liu, Xiao-xiao & Yang, Guo-liang, 2020. "Aggregating the DEA prospect cross-efficiency with an application to state key laboratories in China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. James K. Hammitt, 2020. "Valuing mortality risk in the time of COVID-19," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 129-154, October.
    14. André Lapied & Thomas Rongiconi, 2013. "Ambiguity as a Source of Temptation: Modeling Unstable Beliefs," Working Papers halshs-00797631, HAL.
    15. Chorvat, Terrence, 2006. "Taxing utility," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 1-16, February.
    16. 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.
    17. Stefano DellaVigna, 2009. "Psychology and Economics: Evidence from the Field," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 315-372, June.
    18. Iñigo Iturbe-Ormaetxe & Giovanni Ponti & Josefa Tomás, 2016. "Myopic Loss Aversion under Ambiguity and Gender Effects," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-11, December.
    19. Zimper, Alexander, 2012. "Asset pricing in a Lucas fruit-tree economy with the best and worst in mind," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 610-628.
    20. Courgeau, Daniel, 2012. "Probability and social science : methodologial relationships between the two approaches ?," MPRA Paper 43102, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:trapol:v:153:y:2024:i:c:p:24-38. 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/30473/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.