Environmental, economic and health cobenefits of the combination strategy for alleviating traffic and emission pressure

Abstract

With the continuous progression of urbanization, traffic congestion and motor vehicle exhaust emissions are seriously affecting China’s population. Using system dynamics, this study established a vehicle pollutant emission reduction management and control model to achieve a win–win solution for reducing emissions and alleviating traffic congestion. Specifically, an algorithm that integrates system dynamics and gray incidence analysis was proposed to improve model validation. Then, dynamic simulation was used to explore the cobenefits of combining air pollution charging fee (APCF), penalty, and subsidy policies (collectively, A−P−S strategies). These results indicated that while a single policy was associated with certain limitations, A−P−S strategies showed multiple beneficial effects. A−P−S not only significantly reduced GDP losses (economic benefit), losses from pollution (environmental benefit), and population deaths (social benefit) but also improved the health impact index (health benefit) and road bearing capacity (social benefit). Based on the paradoxical effects that may arise from these policies, some policy recommendations are proposed.