Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: The Impact of California's Cap-and-Trade Program on Toxic Emissions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lee, Narae; Kaul, Aseem
• 署名单位: Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST); University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.03560
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: environmental sustainability; toxic emissions; regulation; multiple objectives; Social impact; climate change

摘要

We empirically examine the consequences of the introduction of a cap-and-trade program in California, showing that although the program helped reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it had the unintended consequence of increasing toxic emissions from treated facilities, as facilities cut back on their waste-treatment efforts to reduce GHG emissions. We further show that this effect was weaker for more harmful toxins, for facilities that had invested in reducing toxic waste at source, and for those that were subject to close scrutiny from regulators, consistent with it being the result of strategic firm actions.