Beyond the case study: interpreting the findings and assessing their wider relevance

This chapter explores the degree to which the key policy recommendations of the study are relevant to contexts beyond Auckland and New Zealand. To that end, it revisits the projected reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other key outcomes under different assumptions about the carbon intensity of the electricity generation sector, population growth and income evolution. Moreover, the chapter offers an extensive sensitivity analysis with respect to various model parameters including the evolution of preferences for open space, fuel efficiency, electricity and fuel prices, as well as of the pace at which advantages of conventional vehicles vis-à-vis electric cars fade out. That analysis identifies the factors that have an important impact on the key conclusions. Finally, the chapter enumerates a series of methodological limitations of the analysis and the impact they have on the key conclusions of the study.