Air Traveler's Willingness to Pay to Offset Their CO2 Emission in Pokhara

Abstract

This study aims to investigate if there are a significant number of people who are ready for climate change mitigation action in case of air travelers in Pokhara city. Using the primary information to answer 46 structured questions from 142 respondents of Pokhara city in 2014, the study has estimated the air travelers’ willingness to pay (WTP) to offset their CO₂ emission during their flight. The study has showed that with the mean value of 5.53% of their air fare, there is 78.16% probability of willingness to pay voluntarily to offset their CO₂ emission caused by their activities by the air travelers in Pokhara. Besides, knowledge and attitude as major determinants of WTP, majority (about 83 percent) of the respondents have both high level of knowledge about carbon emission and high level of attitude towards its adverse impact. The study has also showed that foreigners are more likely to pay to offset their CO₂ emission than that of Nepali citizens. Therefore, the findings could be a good information for making pricing, carbon taxing and mitigation policy at any level.