Implications of Low Carbon City Sustainability Strategies for 2050

Low carbon cities in 2050? GHG emissions of European cities using production-based and consumption-based emission accounting methods

BackgroundThe Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of Thailand intends to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20 to 25% from the projected business as usual level by 2030 with the deployment of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency improvement measures in both the supply and demand sectors. However, in order to contribute towards meeting the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement to stay well below 2 °C, ambitious mitigation efforts beyond 2030 are needed. As such, it is necessary to assess the effects of imposing more stringent long-term GHG reduction targets in Thailand beyond the NDC commitment.MethodsThis paper analyses the macroeconomic effects of limiting the GHG emissions by using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model on Thailand’s economy during 2010 to 2050. Besides the business as usual (BAU) scenario, this study assesses the macroeconomic effects of ten low to medium GHG mitigation scenarios under varying GHG reduction targets of 20 to 50%. In addition, this study also assesses three different peak emission scenarios, each targeting a GHG reduction of up to 90% by 2050, to analyze the feasibility of zero GHG emissions in Thailand to pursue efforts to hold the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, as considered in the Paris Agreement.ResultsAccording to the BAU scenario, the GHG emissions from the electricity, industry, and transport sectors would remain the most prominent throughout the planning period. The modeling results indicate that the medium to peak emission reduction scenarios could result in a serious GDP loss compared to the BAU scenario, and therefore, the attainment of such mitigation targets could be very challenging for Thailand. Results suggest that the development and deployment of energy-efficient and renewable energy-based technologies would play a significant role not only in minimizing the GHG emissions but also for overcoming the macroeconomic loss and lowering the price of GHG emissions.ConclusionsThe results reveal that without a transformative change in the economic structure and energy system of Thailand, the country would have to face enormous cost in reducing its GHG emissions.

A survey has been conducted across all MSW landfills with gas extraction system in the Lombardia Region (Italy) in order to collect data for an emission inventory assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the timeframe 1975-2008. The survey results identified a large number of landfills opened over the last 35 years and characterized by different kinds and amounts of waste disposed. Using the IPCC methodology, GHG emissions in the year 2008 were quantified to be 1.81 Mt CO(2)-eq, which corresponds to 1.9% of overall GHG emissions in Lombardia. A dependency between collection efficiency and age of the collecting network has been established and used for the projection of GHG emission in the period 2009-2020, and for two scenarios: a business as usual (BAU) and an alternative one that implies policies to reduce biodegradable carbon content in the residual waste. The latter allows for a 45% reduction of the GHG emissions in 2020 compared to the year 2008, whereas in the BAU scenario the expected reduction is 32%. The sensitivity analysis shows that a variation of parameters that represent the carbon content of the waste category and degradation rate constant, within the range reported in the literature, could affect GHG emission level by about ±18%, whereas the uncertainty due to landfill gas (LFG) composition is less relevant.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction in the electricity sector: Implications of increasing renewable energy penetration in Ghana's electricity generation mix

A pilot scale composting plant has been established on-campus in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to achieve the goal as a sustainable campus. Portion of organic wastes were diverted from landfilling by converting it into compost (organic fertiliser) for reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emission at the landfill and the dependency on inorganic fertiliser. Composting has been reported as a sustainable approach to reduce the footprint of GHG as compared to the waste disposal through landfilling. However, the amount of GHG emitted during composting can vary due to localised condition. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of composting in mitigating GHG emission compared to the current waste management employed in UTM (Landfilling). A business as usual (BAU) scenario represents the current organic waste management practice in UTM was established. Composting was proposed as an alternative scenario. The amount of GHG emitted or reduced from different sources including for transportation, waste processing, waste treatment as well as downstream activities such as carbon sequestration and inorganic fertiliser substitution was estimated based on lifecycle inventory analysis. The result indicated that composting scenario offer a GHG reduction of 66.72 % as compared to the BAU scenario. The fugitive emission from biodegradation of organic waste contributed significantly to the GHG emission for both scenarios whereas the GHG emission from the fossil fuel combustion was considered as not significant. The overall result suggested the potential of composting as a viable technology for sustainable organic waste management in UTM.

There are two types of approaches for analyzing various aspects related to green-house gas (GHG) emissions, i.e., top-down and bottom-up approaches. Although the top-down approach focuses on macro-economic perspectives, the bottom-up approach is more suitable to investigate GHG emissions at an industry level utilizing domain-specific knowledge. For example, a bottom-up analysis requires a wide variety of data such as energy demands, conversion factors, and energy efficiency, which may be obtained by analyzing industrial process data. This study aims to provide a bottom-up approach for analyzing GHG emissions from shipbuilding processes in Korea. Reference energy system and energy balance for shipbuilding processes are derived for bottom-up modeling. Based on the midterm forecast on energy demands of the Korean shipbuilding industry, it is shown that the business-as-usual GHG emissions may be obtained. Relevant mitigation measures are then investigated to analyze their mitigation potentials for low-carbon ship production. 1. Introduction Global climate change has recently drawn an increasing attention due to its adverse effects on our environment. Since the inception of Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Frame-work conventions on climate change, local and international experts have long called for more international cooperation in coping with global warming. The main idea of international cooperative efforts is to impose binding obligations for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on participating countries. Even though some countries have withdrawn their commitment and others have been reluctant to adopting definite targets for emission reduction, many countries have already established a designated national authority to manage their GHG emissions. Korea has also established a national authority called "GHG Inventory and Research Center (GIR)" in 2010. One of the most important roles of GIR is to manage the national GHG emission levels and set the abatement target of various sectors through an efficient and integrated management of GHG-related information. Recently, GIR has conducted a series of research projects to analyze GHG emissions of industrial sectors in cooperation with a group of experts. This study presents the results from the analysis of GHG emissions and mitigation potentials for the shipbuilding processes in Korea. It should be noted that the scope of this study is limited to constructions processes in a shipyard even though the shipbuilding industry may encompass a broader range of industrial sectors such as steel production and transport. Adopting Model for Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental Impacts (MESSAGE) developed by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in 1980s (Messner 1997), a bottom-up mathematical programming model is generated to derive the business-as-usual (BAU) GHG emissions in the construction processes in a shipyard. Abatement potentials of several technical abatement measures are also analyzed to help shipbuilders effectively cope with the issue of climate change.

Quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the waste sector is important to evaluating measures for reduction of GHG emissions. To forecast GHG emissions and identify potential emission reduction for GHG emissions, scenarios applied with environmental policy such as waste reduction and structural change of waste treatment were developed. Scenario I estimated GHG emissions under the business as usual (BAU) baseline. Scenario II estimated GHG emissions with the application of the waste reduction policy while scenario III was based on the policy of structural change of waste treatment. Scenario IV was based on both the policies of waste reduction and structural change of waste treatment. As for the different scenarios, GHG emissions were highest under scenarios III, followed by scenarios IV, I, and II. In particular, GHG emissions increased under scenario III due to the increased GHG emissions from the enhanced waste incineration due to the structural change of waste treatment. This result indicated that the waste reduction is the primary policy for GHG reduction from waste. GHG emission from landfill was higher compared to those from incineration. However, the contribution of GHG emission from incineration increased under scenario III and IV. This indicated that more attention should be paid to the waste treatment for incineration to reduce GHG emissions.

In 2014, Indonesia is reported as the world’s tenth largest economy in the world. With stable economic growth rate above 5 % per annum in the last 10 years, national energy demand is projected to increase from 712 million barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2010 to 1.3 billion BOE in 2019. Indonesia is highly dependent on fossil fuel. The country has become a net importer of oil with 800,000 barrel oil per day imported that year. In order to reduce the burden of national budget for oil import, the government has established the national energy policy that shifts the main energy source from oil to other sources. It has also set up regulation for developing approximately 20,000 MW of coal-fired power plants (Fast Track Program Phases 1 and 2) at the expense of higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In order to provide an insight for government in developing a strategy for mitigating GHG emission, alternative scenarios of electricity planning are analyzed using the Indonesia Integrated Energy, Economic, and Environmental Modeling (I2E3M) software. The alternative scenarios include higher utilization of renewable energy and demand-side management program. The results confirm that limiting the GHG emission will increase the share of renewable energy in the primary energy mix for electricity generation. By setting GHG emission at 10 % lower than business as usual (BAU) case, the share of renewable energy will be increased to around 15 % in 2020. Moreover, the demand-side management program is another option in reducing GHG emission from electricity generation activities.

Reducing GHG emissions from ships in port areas

Why carbon leakage matters and what can be done against it

Renewable energy generation from livestock waste for a sustainable circular economy in Bangladesh

GHG Mitigation Potentials of Thailand’s Energy Policies to Achieve INDC Target

The quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is increasingly important in spatial planning for regions, cities, and areas. The combination of territorial and consumption-based accounting (CBA) approaches can currently be considered best practice for calculating GHG emissions at sub-national levels, in terms of informing local decision-making about the different climate impacts of spatial planning policies, both within the boundaries of a given region and for the inhabitants of that region. This study introduces four European case studies that were conducted using the two quantification approaches to assess the climate impacts of locally relevant planning policies. The case studies represent different scales of spatial planning, different European planning systems, and different situations in terms of data availability. Territorial results are not suitable for inter-regional comparison, but rather for internal monitoring, while CBA allows for comparison and provides a comprehensive picture of the global carbon footprint of residents, however, with indications that are more difficult to link to spatial planning decisions. Assessing impacts, and in particular interpreting results, requires both methodological understanding and knowledge of the local context. The results of the case studies show that setting climate targets and monitoring the success of climate action through a single net emissions figure can give false indications. The study shows that the two approaches to quantifying GHG emissions provide complementary perspectives on GHG emissions at the sub-national level and thus provide a more thorough understanding of the GHG emission patterns associated with spatial planning policies. The identification of the regional differences in GHG emission sources and mitigation potentials are the main functions of sub-national GHG inventories and the impact assessment for spatial planning. Harmonization of the data collection for sub-national GHG inventories and the transparency of underlying assumptions would greatly support the coherence of climate action and the implications to spatial planning.

Major US electric utility climate pledges have the potential to collectively reduce power sector emissions by one-third

Vehicle electrification stands as a pivotal catalyst for effecting a low-carbon transition within the transportation sector. End-of-life (EoL) battery treatment, which is mainly aimed at facilitating material recycling, provides considerable co-benefit in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study assesses the life-cycle GHG emissions from battery production, and examines the impact of three EoL battery treatment strategies: second use, regeneration, and recycling. Prospective scenarios of GHG emissions from electric vehicle battery production in China are further provided. The results show that under the Business as Usual (BAU) scenario, GHG emissions peak at 36 million tons in 2030, with 18 million tons for LFP and 18 million tons for NCM, and decrease to 11 million tons in 2060, with 4 million tons for LFP and 7 million tons for NCM. GHG emissions have more reduction potential as the collection rate increases and the proportion of different strategies applied changes. In a scenario with improved collection rates, GHG emissions would be reduced by 21% in 2060 compared to BAU. In a prioritized regeneration scenario, GHG emissions can be reduced by 32% in 2060, with 64% of lithium resources being supplied by regenerated batteries. In a prioritized second use scenario, GHG emissions can be reduced by 104% in 2060, which involves replacing 27 kilotons of lithium input and mitigating 13 million tons of GHG emissions related to the energy storage system. In light of these findings, we advocate for policy recommendations aimed at fostering the advancement of EoL battery treatment technologies and expediting the transformation of battery manufacturing processes towards carbon neutrality.