Research paperEfficiency of the EU regulation on greenhouse gas emissions in Italy: The hierarchical cluster analysis approach

•The case of Italian urban road transport is analysed.•The policy transfer process of the EU regulation on GHG emissions is examined.•Hierarchical cluster analysis approach is employed to test the process effectiveness.•Transplantation of policies may produce different effects if heterogeneity exists.

Using both a multivariate technique and a classic convergence analysis, we set out to test in an original way if the European Union (EU) regulation on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by urban road transport has generated a policy transfer process. By doing so, this paper attempts to fill the gap in research on ex-post analysis to assess whether the decisions taken at the EU level are actually transposed and implemented locally. The results obtained allow to document whether the EU regulation has stimulated the adoption of sustainable mobility policies for a selected group of Italian cities. The findings show that the processes of policy transfer may produce different effects if heterogeneity exists between cities or regions, even if they belong to the same country. Italian evidence demonstrates that northern cities are more actively drawing policy lessons. The study also reveals that large cities choose to look abroad more often than small municipalities. These results indicate that there may be institutional and economic variables that influence the transfer process.