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

• Main Authors: Paul Baustert, Tomás Navarrete Gutiérrez, Thomas Gibon, Laurent Chion, Tai-Yu Ma, Gabriel Leite Mariante, Sylvain Klein, Philippe Gerber, Enrico Benetto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-07-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: life cycle assessment; activity-based modeling; policy analysis; sustainable mobility
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4067

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in 2010 the transport sector was responsible for 23% of the total energy-related CO₂ emissions (6.7 GtCO₂) 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.