From Low Emission Zone to academic track: Environmental policy effects on educational achievement in elementary school

Johannes Brehm; Nico Pestel; Sandra Schaffner; Laura Schmitz

doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103165

From Low Emission Zone to academic track: Environmental policy effects on educational achievement in elementary school

Johannes Brehm^*
, Nico Pestel
, Sandra Schaffner
, Laura Schmitz

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Do long-term improvements in air quality influence children’s educational outcomes? This paper investigates the impact of Low Emission Zones (LEZs), which restrict access to designated areas for emission-intensive vehicles, on the educational achievement of elementary school students in Germany. Using school-level data from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, we exploit the staggered introduction of LEZs since 2008 with a difference-in-differences approach. LEZ implementations increase transition rates to the academic track in secondary education by approximately one percentage point, or 2.4 percent. We validate this finding using more aggregated district-level data across all of Germany. Our findings imply sizable educational co-benefits of reductions in air pollution.

Original language	English
Article number	103165
Number of pages	20
Journal	Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Volume	132
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103165
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025

JEL classifications

i18 - "Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health"
i21 - Analysis of Education
j24 - "Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity"
q52 - "Pollution Control Adoption Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects"
q53 - "Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling"
q58 - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

Keywords

Low Emission Zones
Air quality
Education
Co-benefits

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10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103165Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{e35286c215904b3581f6eed5de3abb02,

title = "From Low Emission Zone to academic track: Environmental policy effects on educational achievement in elementary school",

abstract = "Do long-term improvements in air quality influence children{\textquoteright}s educational outcomes? This paper investigates the impact of Low Emission Zones (LEZs), which restrict access to designated areas for emission-intensive vehicles, on the educational achievement of elementary school students in Germany. Using school-level data from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany{\textquoteright}s most populous state, we exploit the staggered introduction of LEZs since 2008 with a difference-in-differences approach. LEZ implementations increase transition rates to the academic track in secondary education by approximately one percentage point, or 2.4 percent. We validate this finding using more aggregated district-level data across all of Germany. Our findings imply sizable educational co-benefits of reductions in air pollution.",

keywords = "Low Emission Zones, Air quality, Education, Co-benefits",

author = "Johannes Brehm and Nico Pestel and Sandra Schaffner and Laura Schmitz",

note = "• Administrative school-level data, which is provided by the North Rhine-Westphalian Statistical Office (IT.NRW) • Data on the implementation history and stringency of Low Emission Zones in Germany is provided by the German Environmental Agency (UBA, Umweltbundesamt) • Data on air pollution from the air pollution monitoring system of the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA, Umweltbundesamt) • Weather data provided by the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD). • RWI-GEO-GRID: Socio-economic data on grid level - Scientific Use File (wave 12), DOI: 10.7807/microm:suf:v12 • Geo-referenced data from the German Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) ",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103165",

language = "English",

volume = "132",

journal = "Journal of Environmental Economics and Management",

issn = "0095-0696",

publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - From Low Emission Zone to academic track

T2 - Environmental policy effects on educational achievement in elementary school

AU - Brehm, Johannes

AU - Pestel, Nico

AU - Schaffner, Sandra

AU - Schmitz, Laura

N1 - • Administrative school-level data, which is provided by the North Rhine-Westphalian Statistical Office (IT.NRW) • Data on the implementation history and stringency of Low Emission Zones in Germany is provided by the German Environmental Agency (UBA, Umweltbundesamt) • Data on air pollution from the air pollution monitoring system of the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA, Umweltbundesamt) • Weather data provided by the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD). • RWI-GEO-GRID: Socio-economic data on grid level - Scientific Use File (wave 12), DOI: 10.7807/microm:suf:v12 • Geo-referenced data from the German Socio-economic Panel (SOEP)

PY - 2025/6

Y1 - 2025/6

N2 - Do long-term improvements in air quality influence children’s educational outcomes? This paper investigates the impact of Low Emission Zones (LEZs), which restrict access to designated areas for emission-intensive vehicles, on the educational achievement of elementary school students in Germany. Using school-level data from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, we exploit the staggered introduction of LEZs since 2008 with a difference-in-differences approach. LEZ implementations increase transition rates to the academic track in secondary education by approximately one percentage point, or 2.4 percent. We validate this finding using more aggregated district-level data across all of Germany. Our findings imply sizable educational co-benefits of reductions in air pollution.

AB - Do long-term improvements in air quality influence children’s educational outcomes? This paper investigates the impact of Low Emission Zones (LEZs), which restrict access to designated areas for emission-intensive vehicles, on the educational achievement of elementary school students in Germany. Using school-level data from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, we exploit the staggered introduction of LEZs since 2008 with a difference-in-differences approach. LEZ implementations increase transition rates to the academic track in secondary education by approximately one percentage point, or 2.4 percent. We validate this finding using more aggregated district-level data across all of Germany. Our findings imply sizable educational co-benefits of reductions in air pollution.

KW - Low Emission Zones

KW - Air quality

KW - Education

KW - Co-benefits

U2 - 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103165

DO - 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103165

M3 - Article

SN - 0095-0696

VL - 132

JO - Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

M1 - 103165

ER -

From Low Emission Zone to academic track: Environmental policy effects on educational achievement in elementary school

Abstract

JEL classifications

Keywords

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