An empirical study on the green effects of new energy vehicle promotion in the context of global carbon neutrality

In the context of global carbon neutrality, new energy vehicle promotion (NEVP) has become an important means of reducing carbon emissions. This paper constructs a theoretical model and uses panel data on NEVP in 21 countries from 2012 to 2018 to empirically examine the green effect of NEVP. The results indicate the following: (1) NEVP significantly reduces greenhouse gases emissions, and the green effect can be transmitted and diffused through a direct path. (2) Replacing fuel-fired vehicles and accelerating the end-of-life vehicle scrapping process significantly conducted the green effect, and aggravating traffic congestion was not statistically significant. (3) The transmission mechanism of the green effect is regulated by regional economic heterogeneity. In regions with better development of fuel-fired vehicles, the transmission of the green effect is subject to the elimination of fuel-fired vehicles and traffic congestion governance, and the transmission efficiency is low. However, regions with a relatively weak fuel-fired automobile industry foundation show a strong “advantage of backwardness”, and the green effect is more prominent. This means that global NEVP should be further accelerated to achieve the green effect and the goal of global carbon neutrality.