Lecture 7 - Measurement for Environmental Policy

Question 1

Material Flow

Answer 1

Different material flows and material flow analyses concern different objects of interest and associated issues of concern. For example, specific concerns related to environmental impacts, supply security, etc. Are associated with substances, materials, and product objects of interest which flow with substance flow analysis, material system analysis and LCA respectively.

Question 2

Life Cycle Assessment Definition

Answer 2

LCA is a structured, internationally standardised method and management tool (see ISO 14040 and 14044, 2006) for quantifying the emissions, resources consumed and environmental and health impacts that are associated with goods and services (products). LCAs take into account the product‘s full life cycle: from the extraction of resources, over production, use and recycling up to the disposal of the remaining waste

Question 3

Life Cycle Assessment Operational Steps

Answer 3

1. Selection of impact categories and classification
2. Characterization (impact from each emission is modeled quantitatively according to underlying environmental mechanism and impact expressed as impact score)
3. Normalisation (different impact scores related to common reference e.g. impacts caused by one person during one year) [Optional step according to ISO]
4. Weighting (ranking/weighting is performed of different environmental impact categories reflecting relative importance of impacts considered in study) [Optional step according to ISO]

Question 4

Life Cycle Assessment Boundaries

Answer 4

When conducting a LCA, one needs to draw a boundary line around the impacts one is interested in. This could be cradle-grave (conception to end of life); cradle-cradle (if materials go back into recycling); farm gate to fork (environmental impacts from when it leaves the farm and you eat it, not in production)

Question 5

Example of LCAs

Answer 5

1. Cars - looked at EVs v. Petrol and you can see EVs have more emissions from batteries, etc. while petrol cars is from fuel and how they will change over time
2. Water - look at bottled v. tap water and can see impacts of each and could try and make environmental policies based on this but keep it in perspective – might only be 1% of environmental emissions for whole country so not a priority

Question 6

Substance flow analysis (SFA)

Answer 6

Method to follow the flows and stocks of one specific substance in, out and through a societal system.
- Have been conducted for elements (individual heavy metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, chlorine compounds) and at different scales (national economies, the EU, the world, but also regions and cities).” (Voet at al. 2009)
- LCA can be applied to substances subject to SFA (not just products)
- e.g. could track how a potentially harmful chemical like chlroine flows through a given system to manage and control it

Question 7

Life Cycle Costing (LCC)

Answer 7

The analysis of costs of a system or a component over its entire life span.
Typical costs will include acquisition costs, operating costs, maintenance costs, disposal costs. Could also include other costs like accounting/financial elements like depreciation
LCCP = Life cycle cost projection
Three types: Conventional LCC, Env ironmental LCC, and Societal LCC
Need to do this phase during strategic planning or else costs will go crazy!

Question 8

Life Cycle Costing Projection (LCCP)

Answer 8

A complete LCC analysis that may include other costs like accounting/financial elements like depreciation, etc.

Question 9

Three Types of LCC

Answer 9

1. Conventional LCC: Assessment of internal costs without EoL costs; no LCA
2. Environmental LCC: Additional assessment of external costs anticipated to be internalized in decision relevant future; plus LCA in societal = natural boundaries
3. Societal LCC: Additional assessment of further external costs

Question 10

Index

Answer 10

A set of aggregated or weighted parameters or indiators

Question 11

Purpose of Indicators for policy making (EEA 1999)

Answer 11

In relation to policy making, environmental indicators are used for three major purposes:
1. To supply information on environmnetal problems to enable policy-makers to value seriousness
2. To support policy development and priority setting, by identifying key factors that cause pressure on environment
3. To monitor the effects of policy respones.

Question 12

Criteria for Good Indicators

Answer 12

1. Policy relevance and utility for users
2. Analytical soundness
3. Measurability

Question 13

Pressure State Response Indicators

Answer 13

a way of structuring and analyzing environmental indicators based on 3 elements:
1. Pressure Indicators: describe the pressures that human activities exert on the environment (e.g. use of resources)
2. State Indicators: Describe the state or condition of the environment. Provide description of the quality and quantity of phenomena.
3. Response Indicators: refer to responses by society (individuals & gov’t) to changes in state of environment. Responses aim to prevent damage, etc.
DPSIR is more comprehensive for policymakers

Question 14

Driving (forces)- Pressure State Impact Response (DPSIR) Indicators

Answer 14

EEA added a couple new boxes: Drivers (usually economic or social indicators) -> Pressures (stresses from human activitiy) -> State –> Impact –> Responses (which flow into all of the other boxes)
- EEA uses this framework in reporting activities to help policymakers understand information in indicator reports and define common standards for future reports.
> Must show links across the chain

Question 15

Driver (from DPSIR)

Answer 15

These are the social and economic developments that exert pressure on the environment2 . These are often related to patterns of production and consumption

Question 16

Pressure (from DPSIR)

Answer 16

Indicators of environmental pressures: describe pressures from human activities exerted on the environment, including the quality and quantity of natural resources.

ex, fish catch; discharges to water; pesticide run-off; pharmaceuticals in sewage; irrigation

Question 17

State (from DPSIR)

Answer 17

Indicators of environmental conditions: ex. changes in fish stocks; water pollution concentrations of industrial chemicals, pesticides, endocrine disruptors; water stress

Question 18

Impact (from DPSIR)

Answer 18

Indicators of impact: ex. reduced food availability, malnutrition; human health effects; ecosystem disruption and biodiversity loss; effects on gender of fish

Question 19

Response (from DPSIR)

Answer 19

Indicators of societal responses - focus on policies or actions. Ex. fishing quotas, organic agriculture, drinking water standards

Question 20

Resource Use and Environmnetal Impact Indicators

Answer 20

Table for relevant indicators of reosurce use (could be resource-use oriented or environmental impact-oriented)
And then you can set targets for each environmental resource indicator either ambitious, moderate, or conservative

Question 21

Decoupling

Answer 21

Removing the link between two variables. Could be: Resource Decoupling, Impact Decoupling, Double Decoupling. Could also be relative or absolute.

Question 22

Resource Decoupling

Answer 22

The delinking of economic growth and resource use (relative = rate of resource use is lower than rate of economic growth OR absolute = rate of resource use declines while economy grows)

Question 23

Impact Decoupling

Answer 23

Delinking of economic growth and negative environmental impacts (relative = rate of impact increase is lower than rate of economic growth OR absolute = rate of impact increase declines while economy grows)

Question 24

Double Decoupling

Answer 24

Achieving both resource and impact decoupling
In Absolute decoupling: GDP increases, resource use & impact decreases
Relative Decoupling: GDP increases, resource use & impact increases less fast

Decoupling is what we need to achieve to become sustainable society.
- Skepticism of if we can achieve absolute decoupling, especially for CO2

Question 25

Resource Efficiency

Answer 25

More service per unit of resource input e.g. milk packaging uses less glass now than in the past so it is more resource efficient. e.g. washing machine: weight of clothes washed v. certain quality/input of water or energy Basically idea that seeks to answer are we making good use of the resources we have in the economy. Idea is can we put more service per unit of resource input.

Question 26

Resource Productivity

Answer 26

How efficiently an economy uses natural resources to generate economic value. Economic output (GDP/value added) / weight of material or energy input (Domestic Material Consumption i.e. DMC OR Raw Material Input i.e. RMI); would be $/tonne

Question 27

Resource Intensity

Answer 27

1 / Resource Productivity

Question 28

Indicators for Resource Efficiency and Connections B/w Them

Answer 28

- Socio-economic benefits (measure in value like $) ^Eco-efficiency (measured in $/impact) - Environmental impacts (measure in potential impacts like CO2-eq) ^Resource specific impacts (measured in impact/kg) - Resource Use (measure in amounts like kg) ^resource productivity (measured in $/kg)

Question 29

Decoupling in Different Countries (based on Domestic Material Consumption or DMC)

Answer 29

Countries below a GDP cap are NOT decoupling bc as income increases, so does resource use. But the countries above the line are sometimes decoupling (richer countries) meaning maybe richer countries are adding value to resources in more efficient way. Same goes for EMC (environmentally-weighted material consumption)

Question 30

DMC

Answer 30

Domestic Material Consumption (amount of a resource consumed in country) Used as measure for resource productivity

Question 31

RMI

Answer 31

Raw Material Input Used as measure for resource productivity