Driving the environmental extra mile – Car sharing and voluntary carbon dioxide offsetting

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

Sharing seems a key feature of transforming linear consumption to a more environmentally friendly system. This is especially applicable to car sharing. The aim of this study is to find out which factors influence environmentally friendly behaviour and how strongly. 13,629 journeys of a German car sharing provider specialised in the transport of goods and larger groups of people are evaluated. The focus is on the possibility for customers to offset their carbon footprint by voluntarily making their journeys climate neutral. Considering socio-economic characteristics, a Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) model is applied to analyse variables which influence environmentally friendly behaviour. Age, place of residence, mileage driven, and education level have a statistically significant influence in predicting whether a customer will voluntarily offset CO2 or not, in contrast to gender. These findings have societal and political implications which could be used for future policy making.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number103361
JournalTransportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
Volume109
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Keywords

  • Car sharing, Carbon offsetting, Environmental behaviour, Light gradient boosting machine, Machine learning