To build a life cycle assessment (LCA) database of Japanese
products
embracing their global supply chains in a manner requiring lower time
and labor burdens, this study estimates the intensity of embodied
global environmental burden for commodities produced in Japan. The
intensity of embodied global environmental burden is a measure of
the environmental burden generated globally by unit production of
the commodity and can be used as life cycle inventory data in LCA.
The calculation employs an input–output LCA method with a global
link input–output model that defines a global system boundary
grounded in a simplified multiregional input–output framework.
As results, the intensities of embodied global environmental burden
for 406 Japanese commodities are determined in terms of energy consumption,
greenhouse-gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,
perfluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and their
summation), and air-pollutant emissions (nitrogen oxide and sulfur
oxide). The uncertainties in the intensities of embodied global environmental
burden attributable to the simplified structure of the global link
input–output model are quantified using Monte Carlo simulation.
In addition, by analyzing the structure of the embodied global greenhouse-gas
intensities we characterize Japanese commodities in the context of
LCA embracing global supply chains.
As the services industry has grown and diversified, there has been a rapid rise in the share of energy and material costs in provision of services. As a result, services, which have traditionally been considered immaterial by their nature, are now absorbing substantial amounts of energy and material goods. By decomposing the CO 2 emissions embodied in material goods and services, this study quantitatively analyzes the implications of energy and materials consumption in services for the change in indirect CO 2 emissions by household consumers in Japan. The results show that the domestic CO 2 emissions associated with the energy and material goods absorbed by services through the supply chain increased consistently during the decade 1990-2000, thereby constituting a key element in the rise in CO 2 emissions due to household consumption. The energy and materials within the supply chain underlying services that have been identified as the main causes of this increase include electric power consumption, petroleum products, building renovation and repair, distribution of printed materials, plastic products and water, all of which are necessary to support the services in question. This study highlights the increasing importance of energy and materials consumption by services in the context of climate change policy.
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