Alternatively, the supplier can also pay fines for non-compliance. Credits can be banked and used in subsequent periods to cover deficits, or the supplier can sell credits in the market. If a supplier of motor fuels exceeds the compliance target, then the excess compliance is credited to the supplier’s account. point out that, the back-loaded nature of the policy enables the private sector to invest in technological improvements in the early stages and benefit later stages when the compliance levels are higher. The targeted compliance level is back-loaded, since the compliance threshold for the CI reduction starts with low values, but it increases rapidly in subsequent years. Regulated parties include all entities that either produce or import motor fuels for consumption in California. The LCFS functions by restricting the carbon dioxide intensity (CI) of fuels offered by regulated parties and the goal is to achieve a 10% reduction by 2020 compared to the 2010 baseline. It targets all transportation fuels for on-road vehicles. The LCFS constitutes a bundle of standards that aim to incentivize technological advancements to generate low-carbon fuels. By applying a clear identification strategy, this paper estimates the outcomes of the LCFS, and it can serve as a reference point for the implementation of federal policy. Therefore, studying the performance and consequences of the California LCFS is important for many interest groups. The performance of the LCFS in California has high information value to other states, and if successful, it can generate a new wave of federal policy. Third, California pioneers several environmental initiatives and the outcome of this policy will provide useful insights for federal policy and for other states considering similar strategies. From this perspective, the initial outcomes of the LCFS constitute a key factor in the determination of whether this policy has met expectations. In short, the publicity with high expectations about the effectiveness of the LCFS in reducing CO 2 emissions was the main reason for its legal support. 9 th Circuit Court ruled that the LCFS would reduce carbon dioxide emissions and benefit California residents stating that “California should be encouraged to continue and to expand its efforts” (see ). Out-of-state producers claim that this procedure harms their businesses by excluding their products from the California market. In fact, the LCFS assigns higher pollution scores to Midwest ethanol producers since they mostly use coal in the production of ethanol. The life-cycle accounting assigns different pollution scores to different ethanol producers. Second, since the day it was implemented, the LCFS has been challenged by several stakeholders due to its life-cycle accounting method. However, since the primary goal of the LCFS is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector, we focus directly on this sector and quantify changes in the carbon dioxide inventory due to the LCFS. For example, find that since it’s implementation, the LCFS has decreased the carbon dioxide intensity of alternative fuels in California by around 15%. First, some studies have assessed the outcomes of the LCFS however, they mainly focus on the carbon dioxide intensity of all motor fuels in California as the outcome variable. There are three motivations for our study. The magnitude of the CO 2 emissions reduction for the transportation sector is around 10%. All three methods provide robust evidence that the LCFS significantly reduced the CO 2 inventory in California. Furthermore, we conduct two additional robustness check analyses using Difference-In-Differences (DID) and Lasso, which is a machine learning approach. We start our analysis using the synthetic control method (SCM). To assess causality, we apply different identification strategies using econometric techniques and machine learning. In this article, we analyze whether the LCFS has reduced carbon dioxide emissions in California’s transportation sector. Although six additional states, including Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota, Illinois, and Oregon intended to adopt similar policies, none of them succeeded in implementing similar standards. Light-duty vehicles accounted for 70% of transportation emissions in 2014. On January 18, 2007, California launched the Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) program as an attempt to reduce the carbon dioxide intensity of motor fuels for on-road light-duty vehicles. California’s transportation sector is the largest carbon dioxide producer in the state, accounting for nearly 37% of total emissions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |