Abstract
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in 2010 the transport sector was responsible for 23% of the total energy-related CO2 emissions (6.7 GtCO2) worldwide. Policy makers in Luxembourg are well-aware of the challenges and are setting ambitious objectives at country level for the mid and long term. However, a framework to assess environmental impacts from a life cycle perspective on the scale of transport policy scenarios, rather than individual vehicles, is lacking. We present a novel framework linking activity-based modeling with life cycle assessment (LCA) and a proof-of-concept case study for the French cross-border commuters working in Luxembourg. Our framework allows for the evaluation of specific policies formulated on the trip level as well as aggregated evaluation of environmental impacts from a life cycle perspective. The results of our proof-of-concept-based case study suggest that only a combination of: (1) policy measures improving the speed and coverage of the public transport system; (2) policy measures fostering electric mobility; and (3) external factors such as de-carbonizing the electricity mix will allow to counteract the expected increase in impacts due to the increase of mobility needs of the growing commuting population in the long term.
Highlights
The environmental impacts of the transport sector are manifold
One can conclude that the new objectives for 2025 are much more compatible with commuter daily activity patterns, distinguishing between different specific challenges. These studies and objectives are not an end in itself but clearly linked to sustainability goals as illustrated in [7]: (1) the de-carbonization of the transport sector to achieve the ambitious national targets fixed in the Paris climate agreement namely a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; (2) improving air quality according to EU directives with a pledge of 83% reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and of 40% reduction in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions; (3) contributing to the third industrial revolution formulated in another strategic document [8]; (4) “transport for everyone” towards a more inclusive transport system
In order to show a full picture of all impacts, we provide a comprehensive overview of several additional impact categories in the supplementary materials
Summary
The environmental impacts of the transport sector are manifold. The World Health Organization (WHO) holds the transport sector responsible for a large proportion of urban air pollution, attributing an estimated 3.7 million premature deaths to ambient (outdoor) air pollution [2]. In its summary for policy makers [4], the IPCC has identified several potential measures to reduce transport-related CO2 emissions including infrastructure development and behavioral change. They argue that a reduction of 15–40% could be achieved in 2050 [1]
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