Do environmental markets cause environmental injustice? Evidence from California’s carbon market
Journal of Public Economics · 2022 · Danae Hernández-Cortés、Kyle C. Meng
中文摘要
基于市场的环境政策因其资源配置效率而被广泛采用。然而，人们日益担忧，市场引致的污染空间再分配可能扩大弱势社区与其他社区之间既有的污染浓度差距。我们考察了这一“环境正义”（EJ）差距在2013年加州碳市场推出后如何变化。该市场是全球第二大碳市场，也是受到环境正义批评最多的碳市场。我们估计，对于仅受碳市场监管的样本工业设施，该计划在2012—2017年间使温室气体（GHG）、PM2.5、PM10和氮氧化物（NOx）的排放量每年降低3%—9%。我们利用污染扩散模型刻画由此产生的污染浓度空间变化，发现该计划使这些设施造成的PM2.5、PM10和NOx污染浓度的环境正义差距每年缩小6%—10%。我们表明，对污染扩散进行显式建模对于发现这些结果至关重要。
Abstract
Market-based environmental policies are widely adopted on the basis of allocative efficiency. However, there is growing concern that market-induced spatial reallocation of pollution could widen existing pollution concentration gaps between disadvantaged and other communities. We examine how this “environmental justice” (EJ) gap changed following the 2013 introduction of California’s carbon market, the world’s second largest and the most subjected to EJ critiques. We estimate that the program lowered GHG, PM2.5, PM10, and NOx emissions by 3–9% annually between 2012–2017 for sample industrial facilities regulated only by the carbon market. Using a pollution dispersal model to characterize resulting spatial changes in pollution concentrations, we find the program caused EJ gaps in PM2.5, PM10, and NOx from these facilities to narrow by 6–10% annually. We demonstrate that explicit modeling of pollution dispersal is critical for detecting these results.