Buying the same product at the neighborhood store or at a shopping mall implies different carbon emissions. This paper quantifies carbon impacts of consumer choices of retail channel and shop location (where to buy), extending footprint assessments of product choices (what to buy). Carbon emissions of shopping situations are shown in the current situation, in a business-as-usual projection in 2020, and in policy scenarios with changed market shares of shopping situations. The analysis covers the product categories: groceries, clothing, and electronics & computers, from the shopping situations: neighborhood store, town center, discount store, shopping mall, and mail order/online selling. Stages of the product life cycle which differ between shopping situations are examined: freight transport, warehousing, store operation, and the last mile of the consumers' trip to the store. Carbon emissions of shopping situations amount to 2.7% of overall Austrian emissions in the base year. Dominant car use on the last mile substantially contributes to the overall footprint. In the business-as-usual scenario, carbon emissions from shopping situations increase by +33% until 2020, corresponding to 4.2% of the overall Austrian emissions target for 2020. Restricting shopping malls or supporting neighborhood stores could limit this increase to +25% and +20%, respectively. Facilitating online selling achieves no notable effects. The study underlines that an absolute reduction in private demand for household goods is necessary, as available policy instruments aiming at shopping situations fail to compensate the steady growth in private consumption.

Climate change has emerged as one of the most serious challenges faced by human beings. As manufacturing globalisation involves more and more emerging nations, a greater proportion of CO2 emissions is generated from developing countries. The dilemma between fast industrial development and carbon reduction makes firms in developing nations reluctant to take serious commitment and actions in CO2 emission reduction in their global manufacturing practices. From a theoretical perspective, low-carbon supply networks research is also still in its infant stage and needs more explorations and development. Therefore this research aims to address the research question: “How can supply networks in developing countries be developed to reduce carbon emission?” Especially it focuses on: • An influence process to engage companies in developing countries to reduce carbon emission • A typology of carbon emission assessments in supply networks • An initial process of implementing carbon-reduction projects in supply network The research adopts theory building approach based on multiple case studies. The units of analysis are carbon reduction project of focal firms and initiatives of Non-Government Organizations (NGO). Drawing upon the cases, this research develops a general framework for developing low-carbon supply network, including three parts namely network influence, network CO2 measurement, and network CO2 improvement (IMI), with the three process models accordingly proposed. In the ‘influence’ process, based on resource dependence theory (RDT), this research illustrates a categorization of influence choices and a typology of influence pathways, which both underpin the four-step influence procedure proposed later. In the ‘measurement’ process, this research proposes a goal-oriented carbon footprint measurement guideline. In the “improvement’ process, an initial framework to classify carbon reduction projects and implementation process model of these projects are both built based on the analysis of primary case studies and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) database which contains corporates’ carbon reduction practices. Overall this research makes contributions in the following aspects: (1) this research advocates IMI framework as a pathway to de-carbonize supply networks, contributing to manufacturing system’s evolution to sustainable paradigm; (2) It integrates the institutional, stakeholder and network theory in the context of de-carbonization, and extends the research scope of operations management; (3) The research contributes to life cycle assessment (LCA) literature by exploring supply network coordination during the LCA procedure; (4) The research also contributes to green supply chain literature by providing insights from firms’ de-carbonization projects in supply network. (5) In practice, the IMI three-process models can help practitioners to implement de-carbonization management, serving as a preliminary guideline to follow. The potential audience of this research can be MNCs, NGOs, government bodies, consultants, and any organization or individual who aim to change industrial system in the pursuit of climate change mitigation.

Variable valve actuation remains one of the most studied technologies for diesel engines for fuel benefits, efficiency improvements and emission control. The same can be implemented on natural gas engines however presence of throttle valve in the spark ignited natural gas engine leads to different set of challenges and outcomes. In this document, focus is on GT power led analyses for a mid-range natural gas engine and the VVA strategy applied is modulation of intake valve closure timing. The simulations are run for early intake valve closure and late intake valve closure, both applied independently and run for steady state conditions. The focus is on the low torque range to study the impact of IVC modulation on throttling losses for low torque region. The simulation studies showed that IVC strategies both early as well as late IVC do benefit in terms of thermal efficiency improvements by up to 3% and reduction in brake specific fuel efficiency by up to 13%.It also showed considerable reduction in pumping loop and increase in open cycle efficiency when IVC modulation is applied. Validating the model further with real on-engine data and then calibrating the existing GT power with the on-engine data to validate the conclusions drawn would be the next set of goals for this project.<div><br></div><div>Second part of this document is focused on real life testing of soy biodiesel fueled heavy duty on-road engine with modern exhaust aftertreatment system with SCR. Soybean based biodiesel remains one of the most sought-after alternate fuel and biofuel to be used in on-road engines. Burning biodiesel leads to a cleaner exhaust compared to conventional diesel as the biofuel is oxygenated fuel leading to more complete combustion and lower amount of emission species such as CO, CO2and PM in the exhaust. The experiments discussed in this document consisted of developing torque curve envelopes and steady state tests (RMC set points). Three soy biodiesel blends were studied which included B20-20% biodiesel, B50 –50% biodiesel and B100 –100% biodiesel. NOx emissions were observed to be considerably higher for B100 at engine outlet by up to80% as well as at tailpipe outlet increased by up to380%, compared to that of conventional diesel which is attributed to the thermal mechanism of NO production. The exhaust gas temperatures were observed to be lower by up to40-degreeC while the urea dosing was considerably higher by up to83% when using biodiesel blend B100.Thisresearch paves the way to testing further using varying biodiesel blends for regulation certification trials, for tuning the diesel engines for different biodiesel blends and for developing the control strategy for the existing diesel engines to accommodate biodiesel.<br><div><br></div></div>

The point of departure for this thesis is a case study of Linköping University and its goal to reduce air travel carbon emissions by 30% by 2024 compared to the year 2019 level. The aim of this study is to identify aspects that influence current academic work-related travel behaviour within the “Three spheres of transformation” to explore how changes on different levels would support or hinder the implementation of the air travel carbon emission reduction goal. As human activities have been distinctly linked to climate change, it can be justified to address human behaviour concerning climate change mitigation mechanisms. To fulfil the research aim, interviews with Linköping University’s employees were conducted and the results were analysed by applying the “Three spheres of transformation” framework and the main findings from the human behaviour field. Several aspects that affect travel behaviour were identified in all three spheres of transformation that are interconnected. This study concludes that such aspects as increased data availability concerning each employee’s air travel carbon footprint to increase the understanding of the current situation and the shift in academic structures, especially in such aspects as internationalization and academic networking that can determine researcher evaluation criteria, can support the implementation of the goal. In addition to that, the shift in paradigms regarding academic success and travel in general, as well as the understanding of how these drivers affect human behaviour, can significantly support the implementation of the University’s goal and ensure a long-term change.

Livsmedelsverkets undersökningar visar att koldioxidutsläppen relaterade till livsmedelskonsumtion utgör ungefär 25 % av genomsnittssvenskens totala miljöpåverkan vilken gör den till viktig spelpjäs i att nå upp de framtida klimatmålen. För en hållbar miljöpåverkan beräknas det genomsnittliga utsläppet per person och år ligga på ett till två ton. År 2014 låg det genomsnittliga utsläppet per person i Sverige 5 gånger över den gränsen. Syftet med projektet var att besvara “Hur påverkas svenska kunders val av maträtt på en restaurang om koldioxidavtryck i form av färgkodning och km färd i bil presenteras på menyn, samt hur påverkas försäljning av markerade rätter jämfört med icke-markerade rätter?” Undersökningen genomfördes under 16 dagar i april 2017 på restaurangen Open Café i Stockholm där rätterna på menyn satts i förhållande till varandra utifrån koldioxidavtryck. Koldioxidavtrycket beräknades med eget framtagen mjukvara, mjukvaran är kopplad till en mat-klimatdatabas som utvecklats inom ramen för forskningsprojektet ”Förbättrad energirådgivning och förbättrade energivanor genom quantified self assisted advisory”. Markeringen som implementerades följde ett trafikljus system med grön markering för rätter med minst koldioxidutsläpp följt av gul och röd. Trafikljussystemet är en vanlig typ av nudging vilket är ett sätt att påverka konsumentens val vid köptillfället. Resultatet av undersökningen jämfördes med restaurangens tidigare data för att avgöra huruvida koldioxidavtrycksmärkningen haft någon påverkan på konsumentens val. Resultatet visade en statistisk signifikant ökning i försäljning av markerade rätter överlag, samt en statistisk signifikant ökad försäljning av rätter markerad med grönt för en av maträtt-kategorierna som undersöktes. Vidare visade resultatet av undersökningen på en minskning i koldioxidavtryck per servering på 2 % dock med en låg statistisk signifikans. På grund av den låga statistiska signifikansen går resultatet inte att generaliseras.

No description available.

Yes / The UK faces the joint economic policy challenges of raising productivity and tackling climate change. This report challenges prevailing narrow market-based views of productivity, by examining the £4bn UK early stage Cleantech innovation finance market. We find that Cleantech innovation is frequently capital intensive and long horizon (5-10+ years), measured by shorterterm technology readiness level (TRL) and intellectual property (IP) progression. Longer-term sustainable productivity impacts remain little understood and, where applied, narrowly relate to customer adoption. This leads to Cleantech environmental impact investor logics that primarily relate to end user financial value (customer sales). There is little consideration for non-market values from, for example, circular economy (CE) and wider environmental spillover impacts (e.g. supply chains). Whilst few Cleantechs currently successfully commercialise, a small proportion exhibit high employment and sales growth and global environmental impact. Improved understanding of the broader environmental impacts of Cleantechs, through the adoption of environmental impact metrics (EIMs) can (i) add to a more holistic notion of productivity and (ii) improve the efficiency of the finance escalator, enabling more Cleantechs to contribute significantly to establishing the UK as a globally leading low carbon economy. / ESRC

In recent years, the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) databases has enabled architects/engineers to quantify the environmental impact of building materials for whole building analysis and comparative analyses of design alternatives. The application of building information modeling (BIM) has facilitated this process by providing designers and engineers with the detailed bill of materials required for LCA. However three limitations exist: First, LCA assessments have been limited to the design phase of a project delivery or post completion phase. Consequently, it does not help incentivize the choice of suppliers and delivery strategies that minimize the cradle-to-site impacts. Second, majority LCA tools ignore the impact of construction means and methods during the construction phase. Third, there is a lack of metrics and visualization tools that assess environmental impacts of decisions made during pre-construction and construction phase. As a result, little incentive exists for suppliers to provide embodied carbon footprint rates, and similarly, for contractors to balance project costs, schedule objectives with the corresponding environmental impact. To address these challenges, we propose and develop a new framework that applies BIM for reliable, effective benchmarking, monitoring, and visualization of embodied carbon footprint of construction projects. It comprises of a benchmarking module, and a monitoring and visualization module. In the experiments, this framework is implemented on concrete placement activities during the construction of the Center for the Arts facility at Virginia Tech. The developed framework can revolutionize construction by a) a rapid assessment and visualization of the deviations between expected and released carbon footprint, b) incentivizing contractors to request that manufacturers and suppliers gauge and share their carbon footprints as a part of contractor submittal process and c) incentivizing those construction firms that can complete their project with an overall carbon footprint rate lower than what is budgeted during the pre-construction or compared to the values from the design phase, while documenting and using the performance results as a benchmark for future similar projects. / Master of Science

隨著消費者開始意識到自身的購買行為對於環境的影響，環境友善的產品也越來越受歡迎．碳足跡標籤，也就是在標籤上註明一件產品的生命週期所產生的所有碳排放，而其過程就包括了從原料取得到最後被丟棄的整個產品生命週期．產品碳足跡標籤讓消費者了解產品的環境友善程度，也幫助消費者做對環境友善的購買決策．碳足跡標籤也讓消費者成為帶動更永續的未來的主要推力，並激勵企業製造碳足跡較低的產品來維持競爭力． 碳足跡標籤已在全球成為一個越來越普遍的行為，而台灣也正開始推動碳足跡標籤方案．此論文深入研究已發展國家包括英國，美國，法國，日本以及跨國公司包括Walkers，Walmart和Casion Group如何導入碳足跡標籤方案． 接下來將探討台灣以及台灣企業是如何將碳足跡標籤導入到公司以及過程中所碰到的問題與機會． 在台灣企業的部分，宏碁以及泰山為研究對象，由於這兩家企業都是在碳足跡標籤方案的先驅者，並且為不同的產業背景，因此挑選了這兩家深入研究，並探討不同產業導入碳標籤方案的作法． / As consumers become conscious of the impacts of their purchase decision on the environment, environmental friendly products become increasingly popular. By indicating the amount of carbon dioxide produced and emitted throughout a product’s life cycle, from material acquisition to manufacturing to consumption, carbon footprint label give consumers the information to make earth-friendly purchase decisions. Carbon footprint label also makes consumers the driver of a more sustainable future by incentivizing businesses to make lower GHG-content products to increase the competitiveness of products. Carbon footprint label is becoming a popular practice around the world. Taiwan is also learning and doing carbon footprint labelling. This dissertation investigates how carbon footprint labelling is done in advanced countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Japan and multinational companies including Walkers, Walmart and Casino Group. Then it investigates how carbon footprint labelling is done in Taiwan and how Taiwan businesses approach carbon footprint labelling. Two companies of different industry were interviewed to gain an in-depth understanding of how and why Taiwan businesses implement carbon footprint labelling. From the interviews, insights of the motivation, project planning, execution and questions encountered during the implementation of carbon footprint labelling were revealed. The dissertation then concludes by discussing the limitations that happened during the research and the suggestions for the development of Taiwan’s carbon footprint label.

Die fünf Essays dieser Dissertation behandeln Themen aus dem Bereich der Entwicklungs- und Umweltökonomie. Alle Essays analysieren wie die Produktion von CO2 Emissionen beeinflusst oder reguliert werden kann. Das Treibhausgas CO2 ist eine der größten Externalitäten der Geschichte menschlicher Entwicklung. Die einzelnen Essays zeigen wie lokale Klimaveränderungen das menschliche Wohlbefinden beeinflussen und welche monetären Kosten mit einem Anstieg der Durchschnittstemperatur in Lateinamerika verbunden sind. Außerdem betrachten die Essays Hauptdeterminanten von CO2 Emissionen auf haushalts- oder nationalem Niveau, und bestimmen den Erfolg aktueller Klimapolitik um CO2 Emissionen zu reduzieren. Das letzte Essay betrachtet die momentane und zukünftige Verteilung von CO2 Emissionen wenn verschiedene Politikszenarien realisiert werden würden. Das erste Essay befasst sich mit dem Effekt von klimatischen Veränderungen auf das Wohlfahrtsniveau in Lateinamerika. Als Wohlfahrtsmaß kommen dabei subjektive Selbstaussagen zum Einsatz. Subjektive Wohlfahrt erfasst nicht nur Veränderungen im Einkommen, sondern auch Veränderungen in anderen Lebensbereichen wie dem Zugang zu Bildung oder Gesundheitseinrichtungen. Generell kommt die Studie zu dem Schluss, dass eine Temperatur im Bereich von 20 Grad Celsius und Niederschlag bis 247mm optimal sind. Höhere monatliche Durchschnittstemperaturen oder Niederschläge sind mit Wohlfahrtsverlusten verbunden. Eine globale Erwärmung von mehr als 2 Grad Celsius wird mit Wohlfahrtsverlusten in Lateinamerika einhergehen. Das zweite Essay analysiert Haushaltsemissionen in Form des Kohlenstoff-Fußabdrucks in Indien. Dabei liegt das Augenmerk auf dem Effekt von Einkommenswachstum und sozio- ökonomischen Veränderungen innerhalb der Haushalte. Ein höheres Haushaltseinkommen führt zu einem stärkeren Konsumverhalten aber gleichzeitig auch zu weniger CO2- intensiven Konsummustern. Dennoch kann der Mehrkonsum an CO2-armen Gütern, wie zum Beispiel Bildung, den Anstieg der Haushaltsemissionen, aufgrund höheren Einkommens, nicht kompensieren. Das dritte Essay betrachtet in wie fern aktuelle internationale Klimapolitik einen Einfluss auf CO2 Emissionen genommen hat. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Länder, welche Verpflichtungen im Rahmen des Kyoto Protokolls eingegangen sind, im Durschnitt 6.5% weniger CO2 emittiert haben, als vergleichbare Länder mit ähnlichem Einkommens- und Bevölkerungswachstum aber ohne Verpflichtungen. Das vierte Essay geht auf die Hauptdeterminante des CO2 Emissionswachstums ein, nämlich Einkommen. Dabei wird aber nicht nur der Effekt von Veränderungen im Einkommen, sondern auch der Effekt von Veränderungen in der Einkommensverteilung auf CO2 Emissionen untersucht. Einkommensungleichheit wirkt sich abhängig vom gegenwertigen Ungleichheitsniveau auf CO2 Emissionen aus. Für Länder mit einer hohen Einkommensungleichheit ist der Effekt positiv, das heißt mit sinkender Einkommensungleichheit sinken CO2 Emissionen. Für Länder mit niedriger Ungleichheit ist der Effekt negativ. Ein weiterer Abbau der Einkommensungleichheit würde dort mit steigenden CO2 Emissionen einhergehen. Das fünfte Essay befasst sich mit der globalen Verteilung von pro Kopf CO2 Emissionen. Dabei geht es darum inwiefern der Energiemix und der sektorale Aufbau einzelner Volkswirtschaften zu dieser ungleichen Verteilung von pro Kopf CO2 Emissionen beigetragen haben. Der Abbau schwerer Industrie in OECD Ländern und der verstärkte Einsatz von Kohle in nicht-OECD Ländern haben dabei zu einem Rückgang der globalen Ungleichheit in CO2 Emissionen geführt. Langfristig gesehen kann es sein, dass die Emissionsungleichheit ab 2040 wieder steigen wird. Jedes Essay trägt in seinem Feld zur betreffenden Literatur bei. Die Essays analysieren wie jegliche ökonomische Aktivität (hauptsächlich Konsum) CO2 Emissionen verursachen, welche wiederum für Veränderungen im Klima verantwortlich gemacht werden. Diese Veränderungen im Klima gehen mit lokalen Wohlfahrtsverlusten einher. Nationale Politikmaßnahmen wie zum Beispiel Maßnahmen zur Einkommensumverteilung können einen ambivalenten Einfluss auf CO2 Emissionen haben. Politikmaßnahmen um das Konsumverhalten und Konsummuster zu beeinflussen könnten ein effizientes Mittel zur Regulierung von CO2 Emissionen in reichen Ländern darstellen. Generell könnten internationale Klimapolitikmaßnahmen nationale Politikmaßnahmen katalysieren.