The population and economic growth experienced by Canadian metropolitan areas in the past twenty years, has been associated with increased levels of car ownership and vehicle kilometres travelled leading to a deterioration of air quality and public health and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The need to modify urban growth patterns has motivated planning agencies in Canada to develop a broad range of policies aiming at achieving a more sustainable transportation sector. The challenge however, remains in the ability to test the effectiveness of proposed policy measures. This situation has led to a renewed interest in integrated land-use and transport models to support transport policy appraisal. This research is motivated by the need to improve transport policy appraisal through the use of integrated land-use and transport models linked with a range of sub-models that can reflect transport externalities. This research starts with an exploration of the transport policy environment in Canada through a questionnaire-based survey conducted with planners and policy-makers. The survey results highlight the need for tools reflecting the sustainability impacts of proposed policies. While the second part of this research explores sustainability indicators and recommends a set of social, economic, and environmental measures, linked with integrated land-use and transport models; effort is dedicated to estimate the environmental indicators as part of this thesis. As such, the third part of this research involves the development of an emission-dispersion-exposure modelling framework. The framework includes a suite of sub-models including an activity-based travel demand model (TASHA), an emission factor model (Mobile6.2C), a meteorological model (CALMET), and a dispersion model (CALPUFF). The framework is used to estimate link-based emissions of light-duty vehicles in the Greater Toronto Area under a base scenario for 2001. Dispersion of emissions is then conducted and linked with population in order to estimate exposure to air pollution.

The population and economic growth experienced by Canadian metropolitan areas in the past twenty years, has been associated with increased levels of car ownership and vehicle kilometres travelled leading to a deterioration of air quality and public health and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The need to modify urban growth patterns has motivated planning agencies in Canada to develop a broad range of policies aiming at achieving a more sustainable transportation sector. The challenge however, remains in the ability to test the effectiveness of proposed policy measures. This situation has led to a renewed interest in integrated land-use and transport models to support transport policy appraisal. This research is motivated by the need to improve transport policy appraisal through the use of integrated land-use and transport models linked with a range of sub-models that can reflect transport externalities. This research starts with an exploration of the transport policy environment in Canada through a questionnaire-based survey conducted with planners and policy-makers. The survey results highlight the need for tools reflecting the sustainability impacts of proposed policies. While the second part of this research explores sustainability indicators and recommends a set of social, economic, and environmental measures, linked with integrated land-use and transport models; effort is dedicated to estimate the environmental indicators as part of this thesis. As such, the third part of this research involves the development of an emission-dispersion-exposure modelling framework. The framework includes a suite of sub-models including an activity-based travel demand model (TASHA), an emission factor model (Mobile6.2C), a meteorological model (CALMET), and a dispersion model (CALPUFF). The framework is used to estimate link-based emissions of light-duty vehicles in the Greater Toronto Area under a base scenario for 2001. Dispersion of emissions is then conducted and linked with population in order to estimate exposure to air pollution.

Recently, electric vehicles (EVs) have been gaining attention in passenger transportation due to their greater fuel economy and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to conventional vehicles (CVs). The amount of GHG emissions reduction from EVs depends on the energy sources used to generate electricity. Wind is a clean, renewable energy source and EVs charged from wind-generated electricity do not produce any emissions. However, wind is variable in nature. This thesis examines the potential impact of EVs on reducing a jurisdiction’s vehicular GHG emissions using locally available wind-electricity. Four methods of charging EVs using wind-electricity are considered, with grid-electricity as a backup, and the overall well-to-wheels GHG emission reductions are discussed. The thesis includes a case study of Summerside. The results show that up to 68% of the EVs’ demands were met with wind-electricity, and Summerside’s vehicular GHG emissions were reduced by between 56% and 73% when compared to CVs.

Sustainable development has become preeminent for government and corporations as the awareness of environmental impact of human activities increases. Integration of sustainability in supply chains requires companies to look at all three pillars of sustainability. Yet, environmental sustainability remains the most prominent and it has popularized terms like carbon footprint and carbon emissions between academics and professionals. Under supply chain, logistics remain a key strategic factor for companies to gain competitive advantage. Packaging fulfills the functional requirements of logistics, marketing, and the environment. This case study, based on active research is conducted using field notes, interviews, participant observation and corporate documents, aims to contribute to the academic field of packaging and sustainability in packaging process, by revealing the relationship between the secondary packaging and transportation emissions, as well as criteria for assessing secondary packaging material for sustainability. This topic is hence relevant and adds on to the current research conducted on packaging logistics and sustainability in secondary packaging. The research is based on existing literature and is supplemented with an empirical case study of a global life science company. The empirical setup enables to explore the relationship between secondary packaging and transportation emissions with a real-life example and enables to create a framework for sustainable assessment of secondary packaging process that focusses on volume optimization and a circular approach.

Tato práce prezentuje metodologii snižování emisních stop v souvislosti s přechodem na obhovou ekonomiku aplikováním integrace procesů při analýze a projektování při zohlednní výzev, které ztěžují praktické aplikace. Udržitelnost životního prostředí se vyznačuje snahou o snižování emisí a zlepšení hospodaření s odpady a hraje rozhodující roli při přechodu na obhovou ekonomiku. Byly navrženy tři metodiky založené na bezztrátovém konceptu a rozšiřujících metodiky Pinch Analysis a P-Grafů. Aplikovatelnost je demonstrována šesti případovými studiemi transportu a nakládání s odpady. Mé příspěvky v této oblasti jsou následující: (i) Nový bezztrátový rozhodovací nástroj paralelní s klasickým fázovým diagramem, který napomáhá rychlému rozhodování o procesech (např. výběr druhu dopravy pro danou vzdálenost a náklad) při nejnižší možné environmentální zátěži. (ii) Systém kvantitativního vyhodnocování emisí, který agreguje a vyhodnocuje celkové environmentální zatížení způsobené sklemíkovými plyny, SOx, PM a NO2. (iii) Rozšířená analýza nakládání s odpady pro regionální plánování s přihlédnutím k zatěžování i odstranní zatěžování emisní stopou, dále rozhodování o způsobu hospodaření s odpady a výběru způsobu zpracování odpadu s cílem nejnižší možné emisní stopy. (iv) Model posuzování pomocí nástroje P-grafu pro identifikaci optimálních integrovaných systémů zpracování odpadu různého složení, který identifikuje a vyhodnocuje stav udržitelnosti procesů před a po zpracování. Navrhované metodiky v grafickém znázornění s podporou sady komplexních základních rovnic transformují problematiku nakládání s odpady a výběru dopravy do snadno srozumitelné formy řešení vyznačujících se nízkými emisními stopami. Jako příklad v jedné z případových studií analýza provedená podle nového přístupu využívajícího E-WAMPA naznačuje, že celkového snížení emisí o 10% (2, 568 kt CO2 ekv.) Lze dosáhnout provedením přechodu odpadu na Maltě (-25.75 kt CO2 ekv.), Řecko (-1,602.71 kt CO2ekv), Kypr (-178.52 kt CO2ekv) a Rumunsko (-761.16 kt CO2ekv). To jsou země, v nichž lze dosáhnout co největšího zlepšení, vzhledem k kombinovanému účinku čistých emisí (zatěžujících i nezatížených stop) stávajícího systému nakládání s odpady, vzniku odpadů a obyvatelstva. Následující studie budou umožňovat komplexní vyhodnocení ekonomické proveditelnosti tak, aby lokální data mohla být použita pro konkrétní případy v již předpřipravených schématech s výstupem kvalifikovaného řešení.

On-road vehicles are a major source of transportation carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas emissions in all the developed countries, and in many of the developing countries in the world. Similarly, several criteria air pollutants are associated with transportation, e.g., carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM). The need to accurately quantify transportation-related emissions from vehicles is essential. Transportation agencies and researchers in the past have estimated emissions using one average speed and volume on a long stretch of roadway. With MOVES, there is an opportunity for higher precision and accuracy. Integrating a microscopic traffic simulation model (such as VISSIM) with MOVES allows one to obtain precise and accurate emissions estimates. The new United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) mobile source emissions model, MOVES2010a (MOVES) can estimate vehicle emissions on a second-by-second basis creating the opportunity to develop new software ―VIMIS 1.0‖ (VISSIM/MOVES Integration Software) to facilitate the integration process. This research presents a microscopic examination of five key transportation parameters (traffic volume, speed, truck percentage, road grade and temperature) on a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 4 (I- 4) test bed prototype; an urban limited access highway corridor in Orlando, Florida. iv The analysis was conducted utilizing VIMIS 1.0 and using an advanced custom design technique; D-Optimality and I-Optimality criteria, to identify active factors and to ensure precision in estimating the regression coefficients as well as the response variable. The analysis of the experiment identified the optimal settings of the key factors and resulted in the development of Micro-TEM (Microscopic Transportation Emissions MetaModel). The main purpose of Micro-TEM is to serve as a substitute model for predicting transportation emissions on limited access highways in lieu of running simulations using a traffic model and integrating the results in an emissions model to an acceptable degree of accuracy. Furthermore, significant emission rate reductions were observed from the experiment on the modeled corridor especially for speeds between 55 and 60 mph while maintaining up to 80% and 90% of the freeway‘s capacity. However, vehicle activity characterization in terms of speed was shown to have a significant impact on the emission estimation approach. Four different approaches were further examined to capture the environmental impacts of vehicular operations on the modeled test bed prototype. First, (at the most basic level), emissions were estimated for the entire 10-mile section ―by hand‖ using one average traffic volume and average speed. Then, three advanced levels of detail were studied using VISSIM/MOVES to analyze smaller links: average speeds and volumes (AVG), second-bysecond link driving schedules (LDS), and second-by-second operating mode distributions (OPMODE). This research analyzed how the various approaches affect predicted emissions of CO, NOx, PM and CO2. v The results demonstrated that obtaining accurate and comprehensive operating mode distributions on a second-by-second basis improves emission estimates. Specifically, emission rates were found to be highly sensitive to stop-and-go traffic and the associated driving cycles of acceleration, deceleration, frequent braking/coasting and idling. Using the AVG or LDS approach may overestimate or underestimate emissions, respectively, compared to an operating mode distribution approach. Additionally, model applications and mitigation scenarios were examined on the modeled corridor to evaluate the environmental impacts in terms of vehicular emissions and at the same time validate the developed model ―Micro-TEM‖. Mitigation scenarios included the future implementation of managed lanes (ML) along with the general use lanes (GUL) on the I-4 corridor, the currently implemented variable speed limits (VSL) scenario as well as a hypothetical restricted truck lane (RTL) scenario. Results of the mitigation scenarios showed an overall speed improvement on the corridor which resulted in overall reduction in emissions and emission rates when compared to the existing condition (EX) scenario and specifically on link by link basis for the RTL scenario. The proposed emission rate estimation process also can be extended to gridded emissions for ozone modeling, or to localized air quality dispersion modeling, where temporal and spatial resolution of emissions is essential to predict the concentration of pollutants near roadways

As part of the EU’s sustainable strategy in reducing emissions and combating climate change the EU introduced the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in 2022. This directive requires the reporting of sustainability information from a significantly wider group of companies. The CSRD imposes higher demands on reporting and especially within a company’s Scope 3 transportation emissions. The study aims to identify and understand the challenges newly affected companies face in collecting and reporting scope 3 transportation emissions to comply with the CSRD. The study also intends to shed light on the resource and capability gaps that newly affected companies encounter and propose strategies and solutions to address these challenges. The study draws from institutional theory combined with are source-based view of a company to propose a hypothesis that companies face resource and capability gaps due to institutional pressure. The research methodology employed was exploratory multi-method qualitative research. The findings identified how companies, needing to adapt to the CSRD, perceived a regulatory institutional pressure in the form of new and higher requirements and demands now placed on them. In addition the exploration resulted in identification of external challenges, affecting companies ability to comply with the new legalization. Furthermore, internal and supplier challenges were discovered as factors within companies that affect their compliance. These highlighted the presence of resource and capability gaps within companies. In order to close these gaps, the study proposes several strategies and solutions together with a roadmap to address these challenges, ultimately guiding companies towards managing institutional pressures and enhancing their sustainable competitive advantage. Solutions regarding management and strategy as well as tangible operations were identified. These solutions and strategies include developing a sustainability culture within the organization, engaging with stakeholders through collaboration and communication efforts, and implementing technology solutions for data collection and analysis. The study can potentially be utilized by companies to navigate useful solutions when trying to comply with the CSRD. Additionally, the study contributes to guiding companies towards a future position of managing institutional pressure while enhancing their sustainable competitive advantage. Companies are encouraged to shift and transform their viewpoint of complying with the institutional pressure of CSRD from a compliance-focused approach towards a corporate social responsibility-driven sustainable approach with long-term value development. The study thus contributes with a new perspective by highlighting how complying with sustainability reporting can become a tool for advancing corporate responsibility and contributing to a more sustainable development and responsible business landscape.

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