Localized regional life cycle model research for the impacts of carbon dioxide on human health and ecosystem

Abstract

Continuous increase in CO2 emissions results in global warming, thus causing harm to human health and ecosystem. Although many studies investigated the impacts of CO2, how to quantify and analyze them in different regions is a key problem that needs to be solved. Based on the popular ReCiPe 2016 model for life cycle assessment, ReCiPe-Carbon-in-China (RC) model, an evaluation model suitable for quantifying the harm caused by CO2 in China, was established. In RC model, the impact of temperature rise on ischemic heart disease and stroke was quantified, and a new model was constructed to quantify the impact of inland floods caused by temperature rise on human health. The results show that compared with that of ReCiPe 2016 model, the maximum range value of perspectives of RC model in terms of human health dropped from 297% to 47%, and the harm caused by CO2 to human health and ecosystem reduced significantly. These results are in line with China's actual condition. As a carbon-intensive industry, the cement clinker production was analyzed integratively with life cycle assessment theory to verify the effectiveness of RC model, and several optimized measures were put forward to reduce CO2 emissions for a more sustainable cement clinker production.