Search results

Since its introduction in South Africa during 2009, the ability of vehicle emissions tax to reduce CO₂ emissions has been questioned, but not yet assessed. The purpose of this paper is to attempt such an assessment by considering tax designs to reduce passenger vehicle CO₂ emissions.

In this exploratory study, the authors reviewed literature on tax designs to reduce CO₂ emissions, and compared the design of current taxes on passenger vehicles in South Africa to the tax designs most advocated in the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of the current South African design for this purpose.

Tax designs refer to the stage when taxes are levied (purchase/ownership/usage taxes) – levying taxes at one stage may more effectively reduce emissions than levying them at another. The current tax focus on consumers may indeed affect taxes' ability to reduce emissions, and in the current tax mix, taxes on passenger vehicles may not be the most effective way of reducing emissions. The investigation of a “feebate” policy as an alternative initiative to address increased passenger vehicle CO₂ emissions is recommended.

Only anecdotal evidence questions the ability of the vehicle emissions tax to reduce CO₂ emissions. This study is intended to elicit further discussions on other fiscal reform initiatives aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions by passenger vehicles in South Africa.

This chapter explains how electric driving has been transforming car mobility in The Netherlands since 1990, highlighting the role of a specific Dutch policy mix as direct factor, and the conditions through which this policy mix came about as indirect factors. The analysis is based on triangulation of findings from three methods: (1) discourse analysis of national newspapers and online blogs to understand the changing meanings of car mobility as well as changing stakeholder competences; (2) interview analysis with Dutch stakeholders to understand policy effects as well as their changing competences; and (3) analysis of relevant documents that provide the numbers of vehicles sold, implemented infrastructures and policy instruments. The study describes market changes in terms of ‘reconfiguring’ (entangled) practices of Dutch motorists, vehicle manufacturers and policy-makers, constituted by the (changing) relations between meanings, materialities, competences and policy incentives. The analysis finds a gradual reconfiguration of car mobility in three stages: The hegemony of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) mobility (1990–2008), Surge in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) mobility (2009–2015), and Surge in full-electric mobility (2016–2020). The analysis shows that the specific Dutch policy incentives were critical to orchestrating the co-evolution of ICE-based and electric mobility towards low-carbon alternatives, that is, towards more electrification. The policy mix was adapted in three successive steps, in which inconsistencies towards electric mobility (e-mobility) were solved, entailing three distinct reconfiguration pathways in each period. The relatively strong policy incentives for e-mobility in The Netherlands can be explained by the absence of an established car industry as well as particular air quality challenges in cities (triggering local support for the provision of charging infrastructure). The conclusion includes policy recommendations for countries that seek to promote e-mobility, although further research should clarify how contextual differences require specific elements in the policy mix.

This article examines the major modifications made to the national revenue system since the initial reform and opening up of China in the late 1970s. A detailed analysis of revenue structures at the central and local levels of government is presented; several emerging issues are also discussed. The authors suggest that past reforms were largely successful in terms of rationalization of intergovernmental fiscal relations and have profoundly impacted the current revenue system to meet certain policy goals and administrative needs. A brief comparison illustrates that although central and local revenue systems share basic similarities such as a general reliance on tax revenue and an overall dependence on turnover and income taxes, striking differences are also in evidence which include extra-budgetary revenues and a high concentration of land-related revenue in local governments as well as a highly diversified local revenue structure. Key emergent issues identified include the readjustment of the roles played by the different levels of government in revenue administration and expenditure assignment, the increased importance of intergovernmental transfer and accountability, and possibilities for the adoption of new taxes such as a real property tax, a social security tax, and a volume-based vehicle emission tax.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a greenhouse gas (GHG) management model for mitigating GHG emission. GHG emission by way of human activities is causing catastrophic effects on the natural environment in the form of climate change and global warming. GHG management of different products, bodies and processes is going on worldwide, expressed through carbon footprints by using product life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a useful approach, but it only looks at the micro level of cause-effect scenarios rather than the macro level cause-effect scenarios of GHG emission. Therefore, a system to scrutinize underlined assumptions and values of such policies/strategies is an urgent necessity.

This paper uses the double-loop learning concept, which was proposed by Argyris in 1976, to develop a triple cause-effect model for the management of GHG emission. The proposed model has a knowledge system that introduces the learning loop of GHG emission and environmental impact management.

A case study is conducted to demonstrate how the proposed triple cause-effect model is operationalized. The ideas and benefits of the proposed model are further discussed.

A triple cause-effect model for the measurement and analysis of GHG emission is proposed in this paper to complement GHG management by using only product LCA. This paper seeks to show that GHG management should look at not only a single tree (product LCA approach) but also the whole forest (the proposed model).

This study aimed two objectives: The first objective was to explore carriers' intentions to use cargo electric vehicles (EVs) and the factors influencing these intentions in last-mile delivery (LMD). The other objective was to provide recommendations for policymakers and manufacturers to promote and customize cargo EVs to meet the requirements of carriers in the LMD sector.

In this study the authors constructed a research framework that adjusted and extended the original technology acceptance model (TAM). The proposed model combines eight psychological factors, including attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, public engagement, face consciousness, financial incentive policy and carrier intention, in which four factors, namely attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and intention, were obtained from the original TAM and the four remaining factors, namely perceived risk, public engagement, face consciousness and financial incentive policy, were added.

The results showed that psychological factors such as attitude, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, public engagement and face consciousness might affect carriers' intentions to use electric cargo vehicles in LMD service in Vietnamese cities. These results agree with the previous studies and confirm that attitude, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, public engagement and face consciousness might be important for shaping intention to use electric cargo vehicles in emerging markets.

This study has several limitations, first, the data were collected in Vietnam, a country with weak academic contributions. Therefore, these findings might not be generalizable to other areas. The authors expect to apply the same research framework to other countries to explore the similarities and differences across the countries. Second, the authors conducted the surveys in three cities; except for Hanoi, the other two cities are not really large markets in the LMD service sector. Third, the authors ignored the relationship between the demographic characteristics and electric cargo vehicles. Further studies should address this gap.

Based on the findings, manufacturers should ensure the high-quality performance of electric cargo vehicles in terms of extending driving range and shortening recharging time. Policymakers should develop the roadmaps for electric cargo vehicles, starting from switching from conventional cargo motorcycles to electric motorcycles. In addition, developing public charging infrastructure should be prioritized, which is the fundamental basis for operating electric cargo vehicles. Finally, manufacturers should research and develop a product that would improve the reputation of carriers because carriers with higher face consciousness are more likely to pursue brand-name and high-priced products in order to enhance their reputation.

This study contributes to the literature in two aspects: First, the authors investigated intentions to use electric cargo vehicles in LMD service, which is rare from other studies, and they further identified the psychological determinants of carriers' intentions. Second, the findings increase the knowledge of carriers' intentions and suggest implications for policymakers and manufacturers to promote the adoption of electric cargo vehicles in last-mile deliver service.

Road transport is an important sector of the economy, however, its negative impacts on the environment, human health and sustainability of potential economic growth are significant. Transport externalities tend to be neglected within the market process. The damage generated through significant externalities of road transport in Czechia was identified, based on unique data processing, to reach almost 3.5 billion € annually. This chapter presents an overview of internalization taxes and fees, their current rates and generated receipts. If excise duty is disregarded as fundamentally unsuitable for the internalization of externalities, then the receipts from other applied taxes and fees, particularly the road tax, seem to be insufficient. Although economic growth is encouraged, its form is not sustainable in view of the rising phase of the Kuznets curve and the related irreversible environmental impacts.

In order to reduce logistics transportation costs and respond to low-carbon economy, the purpose of this paper is to study the more practical and common simultaneous pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem, which considers the carbon tax policy. A low-carbon simultaneous pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem model is constructed with the minimum total costs as the objective function.

This study develops a mathematical optimization model with the minimum total costs, including the carbon emissions costs as the objective function. An adaptive genetic hill-climbing algorithm is designed to solve the model.

First, the effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by numerical experiments. Second, the research results prove that carbon tax mechanism can effectively reduce carbon emissions within effective carbon tax interval. Finally, the research results also show that, under the carbon tax mechanism, the effect of vehicle speed on total costs will become more obvious with the increase of carbon tax.

This paper only considers the weight of the cargo, but it does not consider the volume of the cargo.

Few studies focus on environmental issues in the simultaneous pickup and delivery problem. Thus, this paper constructs a green path optimization model, combining the carbon tax mechanism for the problem. This paper further analyzes the impact of carbon tax value on total costs and carbon emission; at the same time, the effect of vehicle speed on total cost is also analyzed.