Cost-Benefit Analysis of Yellow-label Vehicles Elimination Policy in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

JIANG Hongqiang, ZHOU Jia, CHENG Xi, LU Yaling, ZHANG Wei

China's motor vehicle population is rapidly growing year by year. The consequent exhaust emissions have become an important cause of air pollution, particularly haze and photochemical smog . Vehicles contributed about 30% of PM2.5 in mega-cities such as Beijing and Shanghai and densely populated eastern areas, and even more than 50% in extremely adverse weather conditions. At the same time, motor vehicle emissions pose a direct threat to public health as most of the motor vehicles travel in densely populated regions . In 2014, there were 9.842 million yellow-label vehicles (YLVs) in China. They represented 6.8% of the national motor vehicles, but emitted 45.4%, 49.1%, 47.4% and 74.6% of the carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) respectively . The Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control considered eliminating YLVs as an important measure in 2013. Yet, the policy evaluation remains blank despite overall studies on the Action Plan. Through a case of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, this study uses cost-benefit analysis to quantify the policy impact in a comprehensive and objective manner, covering costs, benefits and economic impact.

The Chinese Environmental Policy Research Working Paper Issue 16