Climate-change policy and CO₂ emissions from passenger vehicles.

Format:

Book

Government document

Contributor:

United States. Congressional Budget Office

Series:

Economic and budget issue brief

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Carbon dioxide mitigation--United States.

Carbon dioxide mitigation.

Automobiles--Motors--Exhaust gas--United States.

Automobiles.

Greenhouse gas mitigation--United States.

Greenhouse gas mitigation.

Automobiles--Motors--Exhaust gas.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (8 pages)

Place of Publication:

[Washington, D.C.] : U.S. Congressional Budget Office, [2008]

Summary:

"Human activities are producing increasingly large quantities of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO₂), and their accumulation in the atmosphere is expected to affect the climate throughout the world. This Congressional Budget Office issue brief examines the role of passenger vehicles (cars and light trucks) in the U.S. effort to curb those emissions. In particular, the brief looks at how putting a price on CO₂ emissions--for example, through a cap-and-trade system--would affect gasoline prices and, as a consequence, vehicle emissions. Charging a price for CO₂ emissions would raise the price of gasoline, but that increase--and the resulting decrease in vehicle emissions--would be relatively small. Most of the reduction in CO₂ emissions would occur in other sectors. The initial impact on vehicle emissions would be particularly small: People could drive less and at slower speeds, and some could switch to public transit, but in the short run they would have few other alternatives. Over time, consumers could respond to higher gasoline prices by buying more fuel-efficient vehicles and reducing their commuting distance when an opportunity arises. Substantial increases in gasoline prices in recent years have triggered measurable responses of both types. But a CO₂ price high enough to induce sizable reductions from other sources of emissions would have only a small effect on vehicle emissions of CO₂. Recent changes to the automobile fuel economy standards--greatly increasing their stringency--will result in a substantial decline in vehicle emissions whether gasoline prices increase or not."

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed October 7, 2008).

"October 6, 2008."

Includes bibliographical references.

OCLC:

261114669