Coupling activity-based modeling and life cycle assessment-a proof-of-concept study on cross-border commuting in Luxembourg

Baustert, Paul, Gutiérrez, Tomás Navarrete, Gibon, Thomas, Chion, Laurent, Ma, Tai Yu, Mariante, Gabriel Leite, Klein, Sylvain, Gerber, Philippe and Benetto, Enrico (2019) Coupling activity-based modeling and life cycle assessment-a proof-of-concept study on cross-border commuting in Luxembourg. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11 (15). ISSN 2071-1050

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Authors
Divisions:	STICERD
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Date Deposited:	21 Aug 2019 09:30
Last Modified:	11 Sep 2025 10:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/101425

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