Can promoting ethanol gasoline usage improve air quality? Evidence from Tianjin, China

Abstract

Promoting the use of ethanol gasoline is an important approach for China to achieve sustainable and high-quality development. Based on the daily air quality data of Tianjin, China, from 2013 to 2020, this paper investigates whether the implementation of the ethanol gasoline policy helped improve air quality using regression discontinuity analysis. We find that the implementation of the ethanol gasoline policy had a very limited positive effect on the overall air quality index (AQI) and no obvious effect on the reduction of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). However, the results reveal that the ethanol gasoline policy reduced SO2, NO2, and CO by about 36%, 19%, and 20%, respectively. These findings provide policy insights for other cities in China and other rapidly developing cities in the world to promote the use of ethanol gasoline.

Keywords

• Ethanol gasoline
• Air quality
• Regression discontinuity
• Tianjin