Did COVID-19 really change our lifestyles? Evidence from transport energy consumption in Europe
Patino-Artaza, Helena (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
King, Lewis Carl (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Savin, Ivan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	The COVID-19 pandemic triggered substantial societal shifts and reductions in energy consumption, influenced both by the virus itself and the governmental policies implemented to curb its spread. With the end of the pandemic, it is crucial to assess whether enduring behavioural changes have occurred as they may play a vital role in achieving Paris Agreement targets. This paper examines energy consumption patterns in the European transport sector during and after the pandemic and evaluates the role of containment policies. Using quantile regression analysis, we quantify the effect of these policies on transport fuel consumption, with the Gradient Boosting Machines algorithm ranking their importance. Our results reveal significant reductions in motorised land transport and aviation use during the pandemic followed by distinct recovery patterns, with the former recovering faster than the latter. The COVID-19 policies that exerted the most influence on transport use were "school closures," "cancelling of public events," and "international travel controls. " Diverse recovery patterns were observed among countries. While many countries swiftly rebounded to normality, lasting behavioural changes were seen in Sweden, Czechia, and Denmark. These countries offer valuable policy lessons for transitioning to a sustainable transport sector.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M European Commission 101056891
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Behavioural change ; Coronavirus ; Pandemic ; Policy stringency ; Transport emissions
Published in:	Energy policy, Vol. 191 (August 2024) , art. 114204, ISSN 0301-4215
Related work:	King, Lewis, 2025, "Replication data for: Did COVID-19 really change our lifestyles? Evidence from transport energy consumption in Europe" CORA.Repositori de Dades de Recerca https://doi.org/10.34810/data2093

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114204

18 p, 7.4 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles