Carbon Pricing and Transit Accessibility to Jobs
Urban transport is a major driver of global carbon dioxide emissions. Without strong mitigation policies, rapid urbanization, especially in developing countries, is expected to exacerbate the problem. There is a growing consensus on the fundamental role of carbon pricing for achieving reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. However, carbon pricing policies are frequently criticized and resisted for having adverse distributional impacts, which could hinder their implementation, particularly when implemented as a fuel levy—which would impact private vehicle usage but may also affect transit services such as buses. Currently, there is a lack of evidence that quantifies these negative impacts, especially on people’s ability to reach economic opportunities and services. To this end, this paper studies the impact of a uniform carbon price, as one of the most commonly discussed climate policies, on access to employment opportunities via transit services in Kinshasa and Rio de Janeiro. Reduced access to jobs would contribute to fragmented urban labor markets and thus lead to negative social outcomes. Unlike most previous studies, this study defines access as being constrained by both travel time and travel budget. The results indicate that fuel price increases (simulating increases induced by a carbon tax) reduce accessibility, but the effect is lower in more compact and walkable cities as well as in cities that have green transit options. The paper also shows that fuel price increases have spatially and socially disparate outcomes, with the lowest income communities not necessarily being the most affected, in part because even in the absence of carbon pricing, they are found to be priced out of using transit services. The results demonstrate the importance of strategies and investments, such as land use planning and decarbonized transit services, but also possibly complementary social protection programs (such as targeted subsidies, or even cash transfers), to mitigate the negative distributional consequences of carbon pricing policies.
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2023-03
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| Subjects: | DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT, URBAN POLLUTION, EMPLOYMENT ACCESSIBILITY, CLIMATE POLICY, DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT, URBAN LABOR MARKET, URBAN TRANSIT, CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS, CO2 MITIGATION, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099434503062310151/IDU05a4ae20c0a79d042a40a09c01721e4239201 https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/39514 |
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| Summary: | Urban transport is a major driver of
global carbon dioxide emissions. Without strong mitigation
policies, rapid urbanization, especially in developing
countries, is expected to exacerbate the problem. There is a
growing consensus on the fundamental role of carbon pricing
for achieving reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
However, carbon pricing policies are frequently criticized
and resisted for having adverse distributional impacts,
which could hinder their implementation, particularly when
implemented as a fuel levy—which would impact private
vehicle usage but may also affect transit services such as
buses. Currently, there is a lack of evidence that
quantifies these negative impacts, especially on people’s
ability to reach economic opportunities and services. To
this end, this paper studies the impact of a uniform carbon
price, as one of the most commonly discussed climate
policies, on access to employment opportunities via transit
services in Kinshasa and Rio de Janeiro. Reduced access to
jobs would contribute to fragmented urban labor markets and
thus lead to negative social outcomes. Unlike most previous
studies, this study defines access as being constrained by
both travel time and travel budget. The results indicate
that fuel price increases (simulating increases induced by a
carbon tax) reduce accessibility, but the effect is lower in
more compact and walkable cities as well as in cities that
have green transit options. The paper also shows that fuel
price increases have spatially and socially disparate
outcomes, with the lowest income communities not necessarily
being the most affected, in part because even in the absence
of carbon pricing, they are found to be priced out of using
transit services. The results demonstrate the importance of
strategies and investments, such as land use planning and
decarbonized transit services, but also possibly
complementary social protection programs (such as targeted
subsidies, or even cash transfers), to mitigate the negative
distributional consequences of carbon pricing policies. |
|---|