Extending European energy efficiency standards to include material use: an analysis

Abstract

Existing international emissions reduction policies are not sufficient to meet the internationally agreed objective of limiting average global temperature rise to 'well below' two degrees, resulting in an emissions gap. Materialssuch as aluminium, cement, paper, plastics and steelact as a carrier of industrial energy that allows, through trade, the transfer of embodied emissions between sectors and countries. However, the use of materials has been overshadowed by policies focusing on energy efficiency improvements and deployment of a low carbon energy supply. This article argues that policies based on material and product demand can support domestic climate change mitigation and reduce the emissions gap, yet there is little obvious integration between climate and material efficiency policies. The article investigates current 'emissions flows' through the EU economy and how much of these are captured and excluded from existing EU climate policies. We analyse the potential increase in emissions coverage that would be achieved by extending EU directives that currently target the energy use of products (cars, buildings and appliances) in operation, to include the emissions required to produce the goods (i.e. embodied emissions). The analysis shows that a greater integration of material efficiency strategies within climate change mitigation policy could significantly increase the emissions coverage of existing product policies. Key policy insights. Consumption is a key driver of emissions and demand reduction is an important policy option in reducing emissions, at least in the short-term, to reduce the risks of a longer-term reliance on technology breakthroughs and while the EU carbon price remains low.. Emissions embodied in material-intensive manufactured products consumed in the EU represent the equivalent of over 40% of EU production emissions, offering significant scope for emissions reductions along product supply chains.. Consumption measures that target the use of materials and products offer complementary mitigation options to low carbon energy supply technologies alongside costs savings.. Existing EU policies addressing the energy efficiency of products can be used to scale up material efficiency measures.

The growing importance of scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from industry

“…The use of MRIO tables for the quantification of emissions embodied in products traded internationally [1,57] and the carbon footprints of final demand is well established [58] and accepted by the IPCC [13]. In this manuscript, we extended the application of MRIO models to quantify indirect emissions of all sectors represented by sector chapters in the IPCC report.…”

“…Indirect emissions occur in the supply chain of the establishment in question, i.e. covering all steps in the production of the goods and services delivered to the establishment [1]. When evaluating specific measures or technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most effective action should consider the potential to address both direct or indirect emissions [2,3].…”

Industrial energy, materials and products: UK decarbonisation challenges and opportunities

“…Energy is required at each stage in the manufacture of a product from raw material extraction through to the final distribution and eventual disposal. The required energy and associated GHG emissions at different points along these UK supply chains emanate from many different countries, due to the growth of globalization [31][32][33][34]. In the short term, a variety of currently-available technologies (BATs) will lead to further energy demand and CO 2 emissions reduction in manufacturing, but the prospects for the commercial exploitation of innovative technologies out to the middle of the 21st century are far more speculative [15,46,55,56].…”

“…Fig. 3 below provides an example of the information generated from Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) models in determining the flow of energy through industry and the economy as a whole [34]. This figure provides an analysis of energy flows {in the European Union (EU-27)}, but further studies have also considered other environmental pressures, such as water [35,36].…”

Optimal durability in least life cycle cost methods: the case of LED lamps

“…The increasing importance of resource efficiency is likely to raise the relevance of more ambitious durability standards in the near future (not only for Circular Economy objectives, but also for climate policy objectives to address embodied emissions; see Scott et al 2017). For example, long lifetimes can enable design where it is possible to repair, reuse and upgrade components or complete lighting solutions (Dzombak et al 2017;Hendrickson et al 2010).…”