Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Emissions from the road transport sector of New Zealand: key drivers and challenges

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The transport sector is the fastest growing greenhouse gas-emitting sector in the world and it is also a major source of emissions in New Zealand. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from road transport increased by 84.3% between 1990 and 2016. This increase in GHG emissions was the highest among the different energy sub-sectors of New Zealand. Increasing energy consumption and GHG emissions are due to the gradual increase in population, car-dependent low-density development, lack of integrated public transport networks, inappropriate policy interventions and so on. These factors are making it difficult to reduce emissions from this sector. This study investigates (i) major drivers of transport sector emissions, including how drivers differ from those affecting other developed countries; (ii) a mitigation policy roadmap to achieve future emissions reduction targets; and (iii) mitigation policy initiatives by the government, and policy gaps. To identify the key drivers from a set of drivers, this study uses a vector error correction model (VECM). The Granger causality test reveals that the fuel economy of the New Zealand passenger vehicle fleet has a significant causal relationship with transport emissions. Introduction of a number of policies such as a feebate scheme and/or a high minimum fuel economy standard could effectively alter this causal relationship in the short term, along with other measures such as urban planning changes for medium-term impact. This study aims to help policy makers identify the most tractable factors driving transport emissions and alternative policy options suitable for emissions mitigation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acaravci A, Ozturk I (2010) On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe. Energy 35:5412–5420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Achtnicht M, von Graevenitz K, Koesler S, Löschel A, Schoeman B, Reaños T, Angel M (2015) Including road transport in the EU-ETS: an alternative for the future? ZEW Gutachten/Forschungsberichte

  • Adams M, Chapman R (2016) Do denser urban areas save on infrastructure? Evidence from New Zealand territorial authorities. Policy Q 12:63–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmad M, Zhao Z-Y, Irfan M, Mukeshimana MC (2019) Empirics on influencing mechanisms among energy, finance, trade, environment, and economic growth: a heterogeneous dynamic panel data analysis of China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26:14148–14170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahman M (2006) Government policy and the development of electric vehicles in Japan. Energy Policy 34:433–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed K, Long W (2012) Environmental Kuznets curve and Pakistan: an empirical analysis. Procedia Econ Finance 1:4–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akhmat G, Zaman K, Shukui T, Irfan D, Khan MM (2014) Does energy consumption contribute to environmental pollutants? Evidence from SAARC countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21:5940–5951

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alam A, Azam M, Abdullah AB, Malik IA, Khan A, Hamzah TAAT, Khan MM, Zahoor H, Zaman K (2015) Environmental quality indicators and financial development in Malaysia: unity in diversity. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22:8392–8404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Mulali U, Sheau-Ting L, Ozturk I (2015a) The global move toward internet shopping and its influence on pollution: an empirical analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22:9717–9727

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Mulali U, Weng-Wai C, Sheau-Ting L, Mohammed AH (2015b) Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by utilizing the ecological footprint as an indicator of environmental degradation. Ecol Indic 48:315–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrea B, Todd L, Gopinath M (2009) Transport demand management, training document. GTZ Germany

  • Ang JB (2007) CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and output in France. Energy Policy 35:4772–4778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apergis N, Payne JE (2010) The emissions, energy consumption, and growth nexus: evidence from the commonwealth of independent states. Energy Policy 38:650–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appiah K, Du J, Yeboah M, Appiah R (2019) Causal correlation between energy use and carbon emissions in selected emerging economies—panel model approach. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26:7896–7912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arltova M, Fedorova D (2016) Selection of unit root test on the basis of length of the time series and value of AR (1) parameter. Statistika-Stat Econ J 96:47–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Arouri MEH, Youssef AB, M'henni H, Rault C (2012) Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries. Energy Policy 45:342–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arvin MB, Pradhan RP, Norman NR (2015) Transportation intensity, urbanization, economic growth, and CO2 emissions in the G-20 countries. Util Policy 35:50–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asumadu-Sarkodie S, Owusu PA (2016) Carbon dioxide emissions, GDP, energy use, and population growth: a multivariate and causality analysis for Ghana, 1971–2013. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23:13508–13520

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Azlina A, Law SH, Mustapha NHN (2014) Dynamic linkages among transport energy consumption, income and CO2 emission in Malaysia. Energy Policy 73:598–606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barton B, Schütte P (2015) Electric vehicle policy: New Zealand in a comparative context. Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law, University of Waikato

  • Bastani P, Hope C, Heywood JB (2011) A forward-looking stochastic fleet model for analyzing the impact of uncertainty on light-duty vehicles fuel use and emissions. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu. Accessed 2 December 2018

  • Begum RA, Sohag K, Abdullah SMS, Jaafar M (2015) CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic and population growth in Malaysia. Renew Sust Energy Rev 41:594–601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben Jebli M, Hadhri W (2018) The dynamic causal links between CO2 emissions from transport, real GDP, energy use and international tourism. Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol 25:568–577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black J, Mason C, Stanley K (1999) Travel demand management: policy context and an application by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) as a large trip generator. Transp Eng Aust 5:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Bournakis I, Papanastassiou M, Pitelis C (2019) The impact of multinational and domestic enterprises on regional productivity: evidence from the UK. Reg Stud 53:159–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boutabba MA (2014) The impact of financial development, income, energy and trade on carbon emissions: evidence from the Indian economy. Econ Model 40:33–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brand C, Anable J, Tran M (2013) Accelerating the transformation to a low carbon passenger transport system: the role of car purchase taxes, feebates, road taxes and scrappage incentives in the UK. Transp Res A Policy Pract 49:132–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burck J, Marten F, Bals C, Höhne N (2018) The climate change performance index: results 2018. Germanwatch, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Carbon Tax Center (2018) Where carbon is taxed. https://www.carbontax.org. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • Caserini S, Pastorello C, Gaifami P, Ntziachristos L (2013) Impact of the dropping activity with vehicle age on air pollutant emissions. Atmos Pollut Res 4:282–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cetin M, Ecevit E, Yucel AG (2018) The impact of economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, and financial development on carbon emissions: empirical evidence from Turkey. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:36589–36603

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chandran Govindaraju VGR, Tang CF (2013) The dynamic links between CO2 emissions, economic growth and coal consumption in China and India. Appl Energy 104:310–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandran V, Tang CF (2013) The impacts of transport energy consumption, foreign direct investment and income on CO2 emissions in ASEAN-5 economies. Renew Sust Energy Rev 24:445–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chavez-Baeza C, Sheinbaum-Pardo C (2014) Sustainable passenger road transport scenarios to reduce fuel consumption, air pollutants and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Energy 66:624–634

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • CIA (2018) The world factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html. Accessed 12 March 2018

  • Civil Engineer (2018) India uses coal tax money to fund renewable energy projects. https://www.thecivilengineer.org/news-center/latest-news/item/1456-india-uses-coal-tax-money-to-fund-renewable-energy-projects. Accessed 1 May 2019

  • CommTrade (2018) Price history of NZUs. https://www.commtrade.co.nz/. Accessed 5 Nov 2018

  • Dagher L, Yacoubian T (2012) The causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Lebanon. Energy Policy 50:795–801

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day KM, Grafton RQ (2003) Growth and the environment in Canada: an empirical analysis. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie 51:197–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Freitas LC, Kaneko S (2011) Decomposition of CO2 emissions change from energy consumption in Brazil: challenges and policy implications. Energy Policy 39:1495–1504

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Delsalle J (2012) The effects of fuel price changes on the transport sector and its emissions—simulations with TREMOVE. http://ec.europa.eu/. Accessed 2 December 2018

  • Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development (2018) Australian government. https://infrastructure.gov.au. Accessed 2 December 2018

  • Dogan E, Turkekul B (2016) CO2 emissions, real output, energy consumption, trade, urbanization and financial development: testing the EKC hypothesis for the USA. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23:1203–1213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan S, Genter J, Petrenas B, Mumby N, Hazledine T, Litman T, Hewison G, Guidera T, O’Reilly L, Green A (2008) Managing transport challenges when oil prices rise. New Zealand Transport Agency Research Report 04 8: 148pp

  • Du L, Wei C, Cai S (2012) Economic development and carbon dioxide emissions in China: provincial panel data analysis. China Econ Rev 23:371–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enders W (2008) Applied econometric time series. John Wiley & Sons

  • Engle RF, Granger CW (1987) Co-integration and error correction: representation, estimation, and testing. Econometrica 55:251–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Environment Agency (1999) EMEP E. CORINAIR—emissions inventory guidebook. https://www.eea.europa.eu. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • EV Norway (2018) Norwegian EV policy. https://elbil.no/english/norwegian-ev-policy/. Accessed 2 May 2019

  • Falk J, Gaffney O, Bhowmik A, Borgström-Hansson C, Pountney C, Lundén D, Shalit T (2018) Exponential Climate Action Roadmap. https://exponentialroadmap.org/. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Farhani S, Chaibi A, Rault C (2014) CO2 emissions, output, energy consumption, and trade in Tunisia. Econ Model 38:426–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FleetCarma (2017) Electrical vehicle sales in Canada. https://www.fleetcarma.com/electric-vehicle-sales-in-canada-q3-2017/. Accessed 2 May 2019

  • Fouché G (2008) Sweden’s carbon-tax solution to climate change puts it top of green list. Guardian co uk 29

  • Frumkin H (2016) Urban sprawl and public health. Public Health Rep 117:201–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gailbraith K (2014) Climate change concerns push Chile to forefront of climate change movement. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/business/international/climate-change-concerns-push-chile-to-forefront-of-carbon-tax-movement.html. Accessed 1 May 2019

  • Gärling T, Schuitema G (2007) Travel demand management targeting reduced private car use: effectiveness, public acceptability and political feasibility. J Soc Issues 63:139–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germanwatch (2019) Climate change performance index 2019. https://wwwclimate-change-performance-indexorg/ Accessed 6 April 2019 2019

  • Geroe S (2019) Addressing climate change through a low-cost, high-impact carbon tax. J Environ Dev 28:3–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson C (1973) Urbanization in New Zealand: a comparative analysis. Demography 10:71–84

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Global BRT Data (2018) System indicators: modal split. https://brtdata.org. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • Global Covenant of Mayors (2018) Summary for urban policy makers: what the IPCC special report on global warming of 1.5C means for cities. www.globalcovenantofmayors.org. Accessed 5 May 2019

  • Gokmenoglu KK, Taspinar N (2018) Testing the agriculture-induced EKC hypothesis: the case of Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:22829–22841

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granger CW (1988) Some recent development in a concept of causality. J Econ 39:199–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haisheng Y, Jia J, Yongzhang Z, Shugong W (2005) The impact on environmental Kuznets curve by trade and foreign direct investment in China. Chin J Popul Resour Environ 3:14–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halicioglu F (2009) An econometric study of CO2 emissions, energy consumption, income and foreign trade in Turkey. Energy Policy 37:1156–1164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamit-Haggar M (2012) Greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: a panel cointegration analysis from Canadian industrial sector perspective. Energy Econ 34:358–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammar H, Sterner T, Åkerfeldt S (2013) Sweden’s CO2 tax and taxation reform experiences. https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/4357461. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • He Z, Xu S, Shen W, Long R, Chen H (2017) Impact of urbanization on energy related CO2 emission at different development levels: regional difference in China based on panel estimation. J Clean Prod 140:1719–1730

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes F, Chapman R, Dodge N (2016) People’s panel survey—Auckland neighbourhood, housing, and travel preferences. http://sustainablecities.org.nz. Accessed 2 December 2018

  • Hu X, Chang S, Li J, Qin Y (2010) Energy for sustainable road transportation in China: challenges, initiatives and policy implications. Energy 35:4289–4301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Imran M, Pearce J (2015) Auckland’s first spatial plan: ambitious aspirations or furthering the status quo? Cities 45:18–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • International Energy Agency (2018a) Global EV outlook 2018. https://webstore.iea.org/download/direct/1045?fileName=Global_EV_Outlook_2018.pdf. Accessed 2 May 2019

  • International Energy Agency (2018b) Energy efficiency indicators. https://webstore.iea.org/download/direct/2407?fileName=Energy_Efficiency_Indicators_2018_Highlights.pdf. Accessed 2 May 2019

  • International Energy Agency (2019) Energy, carbon dioxide and sulphur taxation. https://www.iea.org/policiesandmeasures/pams/sweden/name-21011-en.php. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Iwata H, Okada K, Samreth S (2010) Empirical study on the environmental Kuznets curve for CO2 in France: the role of nuclear energy. Energy Policy 38:4057–4063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jalil A, Mahmud SF (2009) Environment Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: a cointegration analysis for China. Energy Policy 37:5167–5172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johansen S, Juselius K (1990) Maximum likelihood estimation and inference on cointegration—with applications to the demand for money. Oxf Bull Econ Stat 52:169–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klier T, Linn J (2013) Fuel prices and new vehicle fuel economy—comparing the United States and Western Europe. J Environ Econ Manag 66:280–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kour D, Rana KL, Yadav N, Yadav AN, Rastegari AA, Singh C, Negi P, Singh K, Saxena AK (2019) Technologies for biofuel production: current development, challenges, and future prospects. In: Rastegari AA, Yadav AN, Gupta A (eds) Prospects of renewable bioprocessing in future energy systems. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 1–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Kripfganz S, Schneider DC (2016) ARDL: Stata module to estimate autoregressive distributed lag models, Stata Conference in Chicago. Boston College, Massachusetts

  • Land Transport Safety Authority (2002) New Zealand’s land transport safety record. http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/about/role.html. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • Laurie Forestry (2018) Carbon pricing and trends. http://www.laurieforestry.co.nz. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • Lean HH, Smyth R (2010) CO2 emissions, electricity consumption and output in ASEAN. Appl Energy 87:1858–1864

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liddle B (2012) The systemic, long-run relation among gasoline demand, gasoline price, income, and vehicle ownership in OECD countries: evidence from panel cointegration and causality modeling. Transp Res Part D: Transp Environ 17:327–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liddle B (2013) Urban density and climate change: a STIRPAT analysis using city-level data. J Transp Geogr 28:22–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Limanond T, Jomnonkwao S, Srikaew A (2011) Projection of future transport energy demand of Thailand. Energy Policy 39:2754–2763

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin B, Xie C (2014) Reduction potential of CO2 emissions in China’s transport industry. Renew Sust Energy Rev 33:689–700

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Litman T (2009) Transportation cost and benefit analysis. Victoria Transport Policy Institute 31

  • Litman T, Laube F (2002) Automobile dependency and economic development. Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Canada

  • Liu X, Bae J (2018) Urbanization and industrialization impact of CO 2 emissions in China. J Clean Prod 172:178–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez-Behar D, Tran M, Froese T, Mayaud JR, Herrera OE, Merida W (2019) Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in multi-unit residential buildings: mapping feedbacks and policy recommendations. Energy Policy 126:444–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzi G, Baptista P (2018) Promotion of renewable energy sources in the Portuguese transport sector: a scenario analysis. J Clean Prod 186:918–932

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marrero GA (2010) Greenhouse gases emissions, growth and the energy mix in Europe. Energy Econ 32:1356–1363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Zarzoso I, Maruotti A (2011) The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions: evidence from developing countries. Ecol Econ 70:1344–1353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKinsey & C40 Cities (2017) Focused acceleration: a strategic approach to climate action in cities to 2030. https://www.c40.org/researches/mckinsey-center-for-business-and-environment. Accessed 2 May 2019

  • Michaelis L, Davidson O (1996) GHG mitigation in the transport sector. Energy Policy 24:969–984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry for the Environment (2006) Climate change policy: options for controlling vehicle entry: fuel economy standards. https://www.mfe.govt.nz/. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Ministry for the Environment (2018a) New Zealand’s nationally determined contribution. https://www.mfe.govt.nz/. Accessed 28 Nov 2018

  • Ministry for the Environment (2018b) New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory. http://www.mfe.govt.nz/climate-change/state-of-our-atmosphere-and-climate/new-zealands-greenhouse-gas-inventory. Accessed 12 July 2018

  • Ministry of Business‚ Innovation & Employment (2018a) Prices. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/energy/energy-data-modelling/statistics/prices. Accessed 1 August 2018

  • Ministry of Business‚ Innovation & Employment (2018b) Oil supply, transformation and consumption. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/energy/energy-data-modelling/statistics/oil. Accessed 12 July 2018

  • Ministry of Environment (2014) Sweden’s sixth national communication on climate change. https://unfccc.int/. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Ministry of Transport (2014) Future demand: model overview and user guide https://www.transport.govt.nz. Accessed 26 November 2018

  • Ministry of Transport (2018a) New Zealand vehicle fleet statistics. https://www.transport.govt.nz/mot-resources/vehicle-fleet-statistics/. Accessed 28 September 2018

  • Ministry of Transport (2018b) Government policy statement on land transport. https://www.transport.govt.nz/multi-modal/keystrategiesandplans. Accessed 11 December 2018

  • Ministry of Transport (2018c) Climate change and energy. https://www.transport.govt.nz/multi-modal/climatechange/. Accessed 28 November 2018

  • Ministry of Transport (2019) Electric vehicles. https://www.transport.govt.nz/multi-modal/climatechange/electric-vehicles/. Accessed 12 Feb 2019

  • Mustapa Siti I, Bekhet Hussain A (2016) Analysis of CO2 emissions reduction in the Malaysian transportation sector: an optimisation approach. Energy Policy 89:171–183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nasir M, Rehman FU (2011) Environmental Kuznets curve for carbon emissions in Pakistan: an empirical investigation. Energy Policy 39:1857–1864

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • New Zealand Transport Agency (2013) Land transport rule: vehicle exhaust emissions amendment 2012. https://www.nzta.govt.nz. Accessed 2018

  • Noorpoor AR, Kudahi SN (2015) CO2 emissions from Iran’s power sector and analysis of the influencing factors using the stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology (STIRPAT) model. Carbon Manag 6:101–116

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nunns P (2014) Population-weighted densities in New Zealand and Australian cities: a new comparative dataset. MRCagney Pty Ltd, Auckland

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2019) Greenhouse gas emissions. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=AIR_GHG. Accessed 6 April 2019

  • Onafowora OA, Owoye O (2014) Bounds testing approach to analysis of the environment Kuznets curve hypothesis. Energy Econ 44:47–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ouyang X, Lin B (2017) Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during urbanization: a comparative study between China and Japan. J Clean Prod 143:356–368

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pao H-T, Tsai C-M (2011) Modeling and forecasting the CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth in Brazil. Energy 36:2450–2458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pongthanaisawan J, Sorapipatana C (2013) Greenhouse gas emissions from Thailand’s transport sector: trends and mitigation options. Appl Energy 101:288–298

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Poon JP, Casas I, He C (2006) The impact of energy, transport, and trade on air pollution in China. Eurasian Geogr Econ 47:568–584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pucher J, Buehler R (2008) Making cycling irresistible: lessons from the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. Transp Rev 28:495–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raab U (2017) Carbon tax—determining the tax rate: Swedish experiences. https://www.thepmr.org. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Rafindadi AA, Yusof Z, Zaman K, Kyophilavong P, Akhmat G (2014) The relationship between air pollution, fossil fuel energy consumption, and water resources in the panel of selected Asia-Pacific countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21:11395–11400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman SM, Khondaker A, Hasan MA, Reza I (2017) Greenhouse gas emissions from road transportation in Saudi Arabia—a challenging frontier. Renew Sust Energy Rev 69:812–821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratanavaraha V, Jomnonkwao S (2015) Trends in Thailand CO2 emissions in the transportation sector and policy mitigation. Transp Policy 41:136–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rauf A, Liu X, Amin W, Ozturk I, Rehman OU, Hafeez M (2018) Testing EKC hypothesis with energy and sustainable development challenges: a fresh evidence from belt and road initiative economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:32066–32080

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raza SA, Shah N, Sharif A (2019) Time frequency relationship between energy consumption, economic growth and environmental degradation in the United States: evidence from transportation sector. Energy 173:706–720

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reinhard E, Courtin E, van Lenthe FJ, Avendano M (2018) Public transport policy, social engagement and mental health in older age: a quasi-experimental evaluation of free bus passes in England. J Epidemiol Community Health 72:361–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romson A (2016) Fossil-free transport and travel: the government’s work to reduce the impact of transport on the climate. http://www.government.se/government-policy/environment. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Royal Society of New Zealand (2016) Transition to a low-carbon economy for New Zealand. https://royalsociety.org.nz. Accessed 28 Nov 2018

  • Saboori B, Sulaiman J (2013) Environmental degradation, economic growth and energy consumption: evidence of the environmental Kuznets curve in Malaysia. Energy Policy 60:892–905

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scion (2018) Increasing the use of bioenergy & biofuels. https://www.scionresearch.com/science/bioenergy/bioenergy-and-biofuels. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • Shahbaz M, Solarin SA, Mahmood H, Arouri M (2013) Does financial development reduce CO2 emissions in Malaysian economy? A time series analysis. Econ Model 35:145–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahbaz M, Sbia R, Hamdi H, Ozturk I (2014) Economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation relationship in United Arab Emirates. Ecol Indic 45:622–631

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shahbaz M, Khraief N, Jemaa MMB (2015) On the causal nexus of road transport CO2 emissions and macroeconomic variables in Tunisia: evidence from combined cointegration tests. Renew Sust Energy Rev 51:89–100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw C, Keall M, Randal RC, Howden-Chapman P (2017) Draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2018/2019–2027/2028. http://sustainablecities.org.nz/. Accessed 28 Nov 2018

  • Shmelev SE, Speck SU (2018) Green fiscal reform in Sweden: econometric assessment of the carbon and energy taxation scheme. Renew Sust Energy Rev 90:969–981

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shrestha MB, Bhatta GR (2018) Selecting appropriate methodological framework for time series data analysis. J Finance Data Sci 4:71–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sims R, Schaeffer R, Creutzig F, Cruz-Núñez X, D’agosto M, Dimitriu D, Figueroa Meza M, Fulton L, Kobayashi S, Lah O (2014) Chapter 8: transport. Climate change 2014: mitigation of climate change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

  • Sims R, Barton B, Bennett P, Isaacs N, Kerr S, Leaver J, Reisinger A, Stephenson J (2016) Transition to a low-carbon economy for New Zealand. https://royalsociety.org.nz/assets/documents/Report-Transition-to-Low-Carbon-Economy-for-NZ.pdf. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Sinha Babu S, Datta SK (2013) The relevance of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in a framework of broad-based environmental degradation and modified measure of growth—a pooled data analysis. Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol 20:309–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smellie P (2018) Warning: electric cars could overload our power network. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • Stats NZ (2018) Population. https://www.stats.govt.nz/topics/population. Accessed 2 December 2018

  • Sugihara H, Yamashita J, Ikoma Y (2009) Causal analysis of car CO<inf>2</inf> emissions and urban infrastructure using structural equation modeling. J Environ Inf Sci 37:103

    Google Scholar 

  • Sumner S, Bird L, Smith H (2009) Carbon taxes: a review of experience and policy design considerations (Technical Report NREL/TP-6A2–47312). https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/47312.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2019

  • Sutthichaimethee P, Ariyasajjakorn D (2018) Relationships between causal factors affecting future carbon dioxide output from Thailand’s transportation sector under the government’s sustainability policy: expanding the SEM-VECM model. Resources 7:81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swedish Institute (2019) Energy use in Sweden. https://sweden.se/society/energy-use-in-sweden/. Accessed 29 April 2019

  • Tasker JP (2016) Here’s where the provinces stand on carbon prices. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/provinces-with-carbon-pricing-1.3789174. Accessed 1 May 2019

  • The World Bank (2018a) Databank: World Development Indicators. http://databank.worldbank.org. Accessed 27 Feb 2018

  • The World Bank (2018b) Pricing carbon. http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/pricing-carbon. Accessed 11 June 2018

  • Tiwari AK, Shahbaz M, Adnan Hye QM (2013) The environmental Kuznets curve and the role of coal consumption in India: cointegration and causality analysis in an open economy. Renew Sust Energy Rev 18:519–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tran M, Banister D, Bishop JD, McCulloch MD (2012) Realizing the electric-vehicle revolution. Nat Clim Chang 2:328–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tran M, Banister D, Bishop JDK, McCulloch MD (2013) Simulating early adoption of alternative fuel vehicles for sustainability. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 80:865–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2017) Average fuel efficiency of U.S. light duty vehicles. https://www.rita.dot.gov/. Accessed 2 Dec 2018

  • Urban Access Regulations (2018) Low emission zones. http://urbanaccessregulations.eu/. Accessed 2 May 2019

  • van der Steen M, Van Schelven RM, Kotter R, van Twist MJW, van Deventer MPAP (2015) EV policy compared: an international comparison of governments’ policy strategy towards E-mobility. In: Leal Filho W, Kotter R (eds) E-mobility in Europe: trends and good practice. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 27–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang T, Lin B (2019) Fuel consumption in road transport: a comparative study of China and OECD countries. J Clean Prod 206:156–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Chen L, Kubota J (2016) The relationship between urbanization, energy use and carbon emissions: evidence from a panel of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. J Clean Prod 112:1368–1374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb E, Netuveli G, Millett C (2012) Free bus passes, use of public transport and obesity among older people in England. J Epidemiol Community Health 66:176–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan X, Liu X, Zuo J (2015) The development of new energy vehicles for a sustainable future: a review. Renew Sust Energy Rev 42:298–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y-J, Da Y-B (2015) The decomposition of energy-related carbon emission and its decoupling with economic growth in China. Renew Sust Energy Rev 41:1255–1266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y-J, Liu Z, Zhang H, Tan T-D (2014) The impact of economic growth, industrial structure and urbanization on carbon emission intensity in China. Nat Hazards 73:579–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Md Arif Hasan & Ralph Chapman

  2. Room CO 131, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Cotton Building, Kelburn Parade, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Md Arif Hasan

  3. New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    David J. Frame

  4. New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute; and School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Kelli M. Archie

Authors
  1. Md Arif Hasan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David J. Frame
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ralph Chapman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kelli M. Archie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Md Arif Hasan.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hasan, M.A., Frame, D.J., Chapman, R. et al. Emissions from the road transport sector of New Zealand: key drivers and challenges. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 23937–23957 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05734-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05734-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation