Reducing Carbon Emissions from Shopping Trips: Evidence from China

Jing Li,Kevin Lo,Pingyu Zhang,Mark Wang,Meng Guo

doi:10.3390/en80910043

Abstract

With rising income and the emergence of modern shopping centers in urban China, shopping trips by private car becomes more and more common, leading to higher carbon emissions in the transport sector. Encouraging car owners to shift transport mode from private car to public transport could achieve significant emissions reductions. This study estimate carbon emissions savings by shifting from private cars to public transport for shopping trips in urban China, using Shenyang, one of the largest cities in China, as a case study. Our results show that the average carbon emissions per shopper is 426.9 g, and the carbon emissions on weekends is 13% higher than weekdays. Moreover, shoppers travelling by private car emitted five times more carbon emission than those by public transport. We also found that car ownership gradually increased as accessibility to public transport decreased, and that more car owners chose to travel by private cars than public transport in areas with limited access. This study, thus, highlights the potential for high-quality public transport to reduce the transport sector’s carbon emissions in urban China.

Highlights

With an increasingly affluent middle class buying cars as soon as they can afford to, Chinese cities are becoming increasingly congested with automobiles [1]
Most shoppers work for companies, including private enterprise, state-owned enterprise, and foreign companies, with 32% earning between 2000–3000 RMB per month
This study contributes to the study of China’s low-carbon transportation in two ways. It provides a quantitative comparison of carbon emissions between driving private cars and taking public transport for shopping both on weekdays and on weekends

Summary

Introduction

With an increasingly affluent middle class buying cars as soon as they can afford to, Chinese cities are becoming increasingly congested with automobiles [1]. Travel on public transport has fallen, and in many large Chinese cities, private cars account for more than 60% of the mode of transport [2]. A study by the World Bank offers some clear figures: in large Chinese cities, cars contribute about 50% of the total CO2 emissions; other vehicles, including public transport, motorcycles, and taxis, contribute 10%–20%; and the remaining emissions derive from factory production [3]. 2025, and over a billion by 2030 [4] If these residents were to drive as much as the average American, the carbon emissions produced by transportation in urban China alone would almost match that of all transportation worldwide today. There are compelling reasons for shift travelers from private motor cars to public transport in Asia’s densely populated cities [5,6]

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