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Evaluating Environmental Impacts from Production and Consumption at Regional Level with Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment

par Zeller, Vanessa
Président du jury Godart, Marie-Françoise
Promoteur Degrez, Marc
Publication Non publié, 2017-02-06

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :

The improvement of environmental impacts from production and consumption is an important sustainability target for Belgium, defined in federal and regional strategies for sustainable development. In order to monitor the implementation of sustainability targets a framework that can consistently link production and consumption and assess multiple environmental impacts such as climate change or resource use is needed. The most recognised method for the quantification of environmental impacts of product systems is life cycle assessment (LCA). Most LCAs focusing on production and consumption activities are carried out at national level. However, when regional differences in production and/or consumption structure exist, which is the case for Belgium, the use of more regionalised datasets and assessments seems more appropriate. This PhD thesis develops a multi-regional environmentally extended input-output model (EE-MRIOM) that can account for regional variation in production and consumption patterns and analyse environmental impacts of products from life cycle perspective. The model analysis three Belgian regions (Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia with a special focus on the latter) and their connections via trade flows with the rest of the world. The regional input-output tables (IOTs) of Belgium were linked to a global input-output database (EXIOBASE) and integrated into the LCA framework. The initial regional environmental data on major air emissions were extended by resource use and other emission data, so that a wide spectrum of potential environmental impacts can be analysed. The model represents all economic activities in 2003, 2007 and 2010 with a higher resolution in environmentally important sectors (e.g. energy, construction products, waste).The analysis of environmental impacts from production and consumption perspective confirms the relevance of the life cycle thinking approach, as, for example only 10 % of Walloon household environmental impacts are direct impacts and only 20 % of the Walloon production-related impacts occur on the regional territory. The results show that certain environmental impacts of production have decreased due to the economic crises and structural changes, while environmental impacts from household consumption have increased during the same period. Therefore, we conclude that only the joint improvement from production and consumption perspective will effectively reduce environmental impacts and particular efforts from the consumer side are needed. The regional comparison of impact intensities indicates significant regional variation for production, at economy scale, but also at product level. However, the results do not suggest a systematically lower or higher environmental impact intensity for a certain region. From the household consumption perspective, the results indicate low regional variation when comparing environmental impacts on a per habitant basis. Based on the results from the regional comparison of impact intensities, we conclude that there is no universal concept that could be transferred from one region to the other to improve environmental impacts. Instead, product-specific best cases at a regional scale must be identified in order to propose improvement options. For the Walloon region ‘priority products’, i.e. products or services that contribute significantly to a certain impact category in terms of total impact and impact intensities, are identified with the developed EE-MRIOM. Further model applications are demonstrated in this work such as comparative assessment within a priority sector, detailed sector analysis and scenario analysis to support the policy-making process. The developed model helps to identify most efficient measures to reduce environmental impacts from production and consumption perspective and suggests further methodological developments.