Regulatory spillover and climate co-benefits: Evidence from New Source Review lawsuits

Autor: H. Ron Chan, Yichen Christy Zhou
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 110:102545
ISSN: 0095-0696
DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2021.102545
Popis: Though policies on greenhouse gas emissions have been shown to generate benefits in reducing local pollutants such as SO 2 and NO x , spillover benefits in the reverse direction have not been well studied. This paper estimates one such spillover by examining how SO 2 and NO x regulations of the New Source Review affect CO 2 emissions of US power plants. We address the ambiguity surrounding the stringency of enforcement of the regulations by using a discrete-time duration model that allows us to predict the likelihood of being named in a lawsuit, and to use this likelihood as a continuous treatment variable. We find that a 1 percent increase in the probability of being sued reduces CO 2 emissions by 0.3 percent, an effect comparable to a carbon tax of $10 per ton. Further decomposition analysis suggests that most of these carbon co-benefits arise from the shutdown of both coal-fired-only power plants and certain power-generating units.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: