Coupling Activity-Based Modeling and Life Cycle Assessment—A Proof-of-Concept Study on Cross-Border Commuting in Luxembourg

Paul Baustert, Tomás Navarrete Gutiérrez, Thomas Gibon, Laurent Chion, Tai-Yu Ma, Gabriel Leite Mariante, Sylvain Klein, Philippe Gerber () and Enrico Benetto
Additional contact information
Paul Baustert: Department of the Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Tomás Navarrete Gutiérrez: Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Thomas Gibon: Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Laurent Chion: Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Tai-Yu Ma: Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), 11 Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Gabriel Leite Mariante: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Houghton St, Holborn, London WC2A 2AE, UK
Sylvain Klein: Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), 11 Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Enrico Benetto: Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 15, 1-24

Abstract: According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in 2010 the transport sector was responsible for 23% of the total energy-related CO 2 emissions (6.7 GtCO 2 ) 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.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; activity-based modeling; policy analysis; sustainable mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Coupling activity-based modeling and life cycle assessment-a proof-of-concept study on cross-border commuting in Luxembourg (2019)
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