Impacts of urbanization on national transport and road energy use: Evidence from low, middle and high income countries

Few attempts have been made to investigate quantitatively and systematically the impact of urbanization on transport energy use for countries of different stages of economic development. This paper examines the influence of urbanization on national transport and road energy use for low, middle and high income countries during 1975?2005, using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model. After controlling for population size, income per capita and the share of services in the economy, the main results suggest that urbanization influences national transport and road energy use positively. However, the magnitude of its influence varies among the three income groups. Changes in urbanization appear to have a greater impact on transport and road energy use in the high income group than in the other groups. Surprisingly, the urbanization elasticities of transport and road energy use in the middle income group are smaller than those of the low income group. This study not only sheds further light on the existing literature, but also provides policy makers with insightful information on the link between urbanization and transport energy use at the three different stages of development.Urbanization, Transport energy use, Development stages

Does urbanization lead to less energy use and lower CO2 emissions? A cross-country analysis

Despite the relationship between urbanization, energy use and CO2 emissions has been extensively studied in recent years, little attention has been paid to differences in development stages or income levels. Most previous studies have implicitly assumed that the impact of urbanization is homogenous for all countries. This assumption can be questionable as there are many characteristic differences among countries of different levels of affluence. This paper investigates empirically the effects of urbanization on energy use and CO2 emissions with consideration of the different development stages. Using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model and a balanced panel dataset of 99 countries over the period 1975-2005, the findings suggest that the impact of urbanization on energy use and emissions varies across the stages of development. Surprisingly, urbanization decreases energy use in the low-income group, while it increases energy use in the middle- and high-income groups. The impact of urbanization on emissions is positive for all the income groups, but it is more pronounced in the middle-income group than in the other income groups. These novel findings not only help advance the existing literature, but also can be of special interest to policy makers and urban planners.Urbanization Energy use CO2 emissions Development stages STIRPAT model

Impacts of urbanization on national transport and road energy use : Evidence from low, middle and high income countries

Few attempts have been made to investigate quantitatively and systematically the impact of urbanization on transport energy use for countries of different stages of economic development. This paper examines the influence of urbanization on national transport and road energy use for low, middle and high income countries during 1975-2005, using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model. After controlling for population size, income per capita and the share of services in the economy, the main results suggest that urbanization influences national transport and road energy use positively. However, the magnitude of its influence varies among the three income groups. Changes in urbanization appear to have a greater impact on transport and road energy use in the high income group than in the other groups. Surprisingly, the urbanization elasticities of transport and road energy use in the middle income group are smaller than those of the low income group. This study not only sheds further light on the existing literature, but also provides policy makers with insightful information on the link between urbanization and transport energy use at the three different stages of development

Impacts of urbanization on national residential energy use and CO2 emissions : Evidence from low-, middle- and high-income countries

Despite several previous studies, the potential differential impact of urbanization on energy consumption and CO_2 emissions across stages of development has rarely been investigated. This paper attempts to fill this knowledge gap by examining the influence of urbanization on national residential energy use and emissions in low-, middle- and high-income countries. Using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT)model and a sample of 88 countries for the period 1975-2005, interestingly, the results suggest that urbanization decreases residential energy use in the low-income countries, while it increases residential energy use in the high-income countries. In the middle-income countries, household energy consumption first falls and then rises with urbanization with a turning point at about 70%. Conversely, based on a sample of 80 countries over the same period, this study shows that urbanization increases residential emissions in the low- and middle-income countries, whereas the residential emissions of the high-income countries rise initially and decline subsequently with urbanization with a turning point at around 66%. These findings imply that urbanization brings with it both costs and benefits. These tradeoffs should be considered in future discussions of global energy and climate change policies