Environmental impacts and potential of the sharing economy

Download or read book Environmental impacts and potential of the sharing economy written by John Magne Skjelvik and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The various sharing initiatives seen in the Nordic countries over the last years within transportation, housing/accommodation, sharing/renting of smaller capital goods and personal services could yield considerable benefits for consumers due to better quality and/or lower prices of the services. They also have a potential for emissions reductions of CO2 and local pollutants. However, savings from lower prices could lead to increased emissions from increased demand of the services (particularly transport) and increased spending on other goods and services. Depending on how consumers spend their savings, these changes could partly, wholly or more than offset the initial emission reductions. The impacts on overall CO2 emissions depend on whether the emissions are taxed, part of the emissions trading system EU ETS or not regulated at all.