A large proportion of local pollutants originating from the road transport sector is generated during the so-called cold-start phase of driving, that is, the first few minutes of driving after a car has stood inactive for several hours. Drawing on data from the German Mobility Panel (MOP), this paper analyzes the factors that affect the frequency of cold starts, approximated here by the number of car tours that a household takes over the course of a week. Based on fixed-effects panel estimations, we find a negative and statistically significant effect of fuel prices on the number of tours and, hence, cold starts. Using our estimates to explore the spatial implications arising from fuel price increases stipulated under Germany’s Climate Programme 2030, we find substantial impacts on the number of avoided tours even for modest fuel price increases of 20 cents per liter, particularly in urban areas. This outcome lends support to using carbon pricing as a means to improve both global climate and local air quality, pointing to a co-benefit of climate policy.

在所谓的冷启动阶段，即汽车静止数小时后的最初几分钟内，会产生大量来自道路运输部门的本地污染物。本文利用德国机动性专家组（MOP）的数据，分析了影响冷启动频率的因素，此处的估算值以一个家庭一周内进行的汽车旅行次数为准。根据固定影响小组的估计，我们发现燃油价格对游览次数以及冷启动次数具有负面影响并在统计上具有显着影响。使用我们的估算来探讨德国2030年气候计划规定的燃油价格上涨所带来的空间影响，我们发现，即使燃油价格每升适度上涨20美分，对避免旅行的次数也会产生重大影响，尤其是在城市地区。这一结果为将碳定价作为改善全球气候和当地空气质量的一种手段提供了支持，表明了气候政策的共同利益。