A Consideration of Whole-Life Carbon Emissions by Indiana Manufacturers in Efforts to Gauge Lifecycle Sustainability Records in the Multinational Automobile Industry

Abstract

Purpose: The Ricardo Report (2020) recommends a holistic analysis of the effects of the global auto industry on sustainability by assessing the impacts of automobiles on the environment throughout their lifecycle.  Much of the literature on sustainability in the transportation sector focuses on vehicle exhaust emissions and their contribution to urban smog, and there has been little consideration of emissions produced during the automobile manufacturing process itself.  Materials and Methods: This study builds on the lifecycle emissions approach recommended by the Ricardo Report.  Specifically, data on the pounds of pollution emitted was collected from the Toxic Release Inventory report of major multinational automobile producers and analyzed via piecewise linear regression analyses to provide insight about the pollution emitted during a vehicle’s production.  Findings: The findings in this study will fill a gap in Ricardo’s “birth to grave” proposal to quantify whole-life carbon emissions in the automobile sector. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: As sustainability efforts within the automotive market continues to evolve, it is important to analyze automobile whole-life carbon emissions rather than just what is emitted from the tailpipe, and this study fills a gap in the Ricardo Report by providing data related to the rates of pollution emitted during the manufacture of vehicles at multinational automobile factories in America.