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Life Cycle Based CO 2 Emission Credits: Options for Improving the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Current Tailpipe Emissions Regulation in the Automotive Industry
Author(s) -
Lehmann Annekatrin,
Berger Markus,
Finkbeiner Matthias
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1111/jiec.12657
Subject(s) - automotive industry , life cycle assessment , environmental economics , stakeholder , business , legislation , industrial ecology , greenhouse gas , production (economics) , sustainability , economics , engineering , ecology , management , biology , political science , law , macroeconomics , aerospace engineering
Summary The current focus on the use phase in automotive carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) legislation bares a risk of unintended consequences as often reductions in the use phase come along with increasing CO 2 emissions in other life cycle (LC) phases. This study presents voluntary policy options in form of LC‐based CO 2 emission credits. They were developed by desk research considering existing applications of LCA in practice (e.g., environmental reports) and feedback obtained in a structured stakeholder dialogue. A variety of credit options were identified, including rather simple ones based on life cycle thinking (LCT) and more advanced options which rely on quantitative LCA: LCT options that reward innovations leading to CO 2 reductions, for example, in the production phase. LCA‐based options reward CO 2 reductions along the LC (credits for an International Organization for Standardization [ISO] 14044 conforming externally reviewed LCA showing a continuous improvement) or reductions of other environmental impacts. It was shown that the credit options can be implemented throughout a simplified and robust methodology, for example, with defined rules for conducting the LCA based on international standards and established industry practice, and for calculating the credits (e.g., a credit of 1 gram [g] of CO 2 /km [kilometer] for savings of 10 g of CO 2 /km). Voluntary credit options as a complementary modality to the current automotive tailpipe‐based CO 2 regulations would help to improve its efficiency and effectiveness and support and reward efforts on achieving real net CO 2 emission reductions. The credit options were developed with a first focus on CO 2 and automotive industry, but can generally be transferred to other environmental impacts and sectors as well.