Assessing the Potential of Climate Change Mitigation Actions in Three Different City Types in Finland

Riikka Kyrö, Jukka Heinonen, Antti Säynäjoki and Seppo Junnila
Additional contact information
Riikka Kyrö: Aalto University School of Engineering, P.O. Box 11200, Aalto 00076, Finland
Jukka Heinonen: Aalto University School of Engineering, P.O. Box 11200, Aalto 00076, Finland
Antti Säynäjoki: Aalto University School of Engineering, P.O. Box 11200, Aalto 00076, Finland
Seppo Junnila: Aalto University School of Engineering, P.O. Box 11200, Aalto 00076, Finland

Sustainability, 2012, vol. 4, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: As the effects of global warming have become more evident, ambitious short-term greenhouse gas emission reduction targets have been set in recent years. Many cities worldwide have adopted an active approach to climate change mitigation, but policy makers are not always knowledgeable of the true effects of their planned mitigation action. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies in achieving low-carbon urban communities. The assessment is conducted via means of consumption based hybrid life-cycle assessment, which allows the reduction potential to be analyzed from the perspective of an individual resident of the urban community. The assessed actions represent strategies that are both adopted by the case cities and possible to implement with current best practices in Finland. The four assessed actions comprise: (1) dense urban structure with less private driving; (2) the use of energy production based on renewable sources; (3) new low-energy residential construction; and (4) improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings. The findings show that the effectiveness depends greatly on the type of city, although in absolute terms the most significant reduction potential lies with lowering the fossil fuel dependence of the local energy production.

Keywords: climate change; carbon footprint; greenhouse gases; urban communities; life-cycle assessment; consumption; energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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