Environmental Impact Assessment Review最新文献

{"title":"The impact of lightweighting and battery technologies on the sustainability of electric vehicles: A comprehensive life cycle assessment","authors":"Omidreza Ahmadzadeh ,&nbsp;Renato Rodriguez ,&nbsp;Jonah Getz ,&nbsp;Samy Panneerselvam ,&nbsp;Damoon Soudbakhsh","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107668","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107668","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a comprehensive analysis of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of two battery electric vehicles (BEVs) using detailed teardown data and contrast them with those of four internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). We used the teardown data to calculate the production and recycling phases as well as for the vehicle dynamics modeling and estimating the utilization phase GHGs. After validating the models and establishing a baseline, we analyzed the effect of new trends on their net carbon footprint. Specifically, we considered lightweighting, battery technology, and charging technologies and showed the tradeoff between longer-range BEVs and their sustainability as a green alternative to ICEVs. The GHGs were calculated based on a life cycle assessment, including the vehicles' production, utilization, and disposal/recycling life. The GHGs of the production phase were calculated using detailed vehicle teardown data rather than general assumptions about the vehicles' material composition. Similarly, the utilization phase GHGs were estimated by first creating accurate dynamic models of the vehicles and validating them against vehicle test data. Then, we analyzed the effect of charging type and electricity source on the sustainability of these technologies. These studies showed that the average (mixed) US electricity source accounts for about 50 % of GHGs, and changing charging from household to station or supercharging can save about 8 % of GHG emissions. Next, we studied the effect of battery technology and lightweighting on EVs' net GHGs. OEMs have exploited both of these options to reduce the car's weight and improve its electrical consumption during the utilization phase (driving). Our study showed that while the higher energy density of battery technologies like NMC and NCAs is attractive for reducing the vehicle's weight and increasing its range, the use of rare materials significantly increases GHG emissions during production. Similarly, we showed that lightweighting by substituting steel with aluminum alloys (such as giga-casting) adds more production GHGs that significantly offset the savings in electrical consumption achieved during the vehicle's lifetime. Therefore, this study proposes three pivotal considerations in the design and utilization of electric vehicles: battery material selection, trade-off analysis for vehicle lightweighting, and adoption of efficient charging methods and energy sources, all of which aim to reduce their overall global carbon footprint.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107668"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142358211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of policies on land use and land cover changes in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region in China","authors":"Liangen Zeng ,&nbsp;Le Yang ,&nbsp;Lixin Su ,&nbsp;Haoyu Hu ,&nbsp;Changchun Feng","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107676","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107676","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region has experienced unprecedented growth in population, economy and urbanisation in recent decades, in which a great deal of non-urban construction land have been transformed into urban construction. Researching the dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) change is essential for formulating land regulation policies. This paper systematically quantifies changes in LULC in the BTH region from 1980 to 2015, and then deeply analyses the influence of both land regulation policies and spatial development strategies on these changes. The main discoveries of this research are: (1) The primary change in LULC is the conversion from agricultural land to construction land, and the secondary is from agricultural land to ecological land; The eastern and southern parts of the BTH region became the hotspots of LULC changes, while the western and northern parts became the cold spots of LULC changes; The centroids of construction land have been moving towards Beijing and Tianjin since before 1995. However, the direction of movement of the centroids has become divergent since 1995. For ecological land, the centroid moved eastwards before 2000, and then westward after 2010. (2) Land regulation policies have restricted the conversion of agricultural land to construction land, and they have made enormous contributions to the conversion of agricultural land to ecological land in most of the periods, especially from 2010 to 2015, when 3613.35 km2 of agricultural land were converted into ecological land due to a series of land regulation policies. The spatial development strategies have weaken the effect of the construction land agglomerated to the Beijing and Tianjin Municipalities, and promoted the construction land more divergence distribution in the BTH regions. The research results can significantly enhance farmland protection programs, and ecological land planning, which are crucial in the face of the growing demand for construction land.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107676"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142358209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Implementation of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism and China's policy and legal responses","authors":"Jiezhong Chang","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107683","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107683","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a major global manufacturer and exporter of raw materials, China may not be significantly affected by the implementation of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in the short term. However, as other developed economies follow and continuously expand the mechanism coverage of industries, it may have widespread and far-reaching implications for exports of related products from developing countries. In light of the global shift towards green and low-carbon transformation, China must effectively address the CBAM by speeding up the promotion of green and low-carbon initiatives through enhanced policies and legal frameworks. This requires addressing issues such as comprehensive supervision challenges in the carbon footprint of supply chain systems, incomplete policy mechanisms such as carbon pricing, inadequate legal systems and standards, and challenges in policy enforcement and coordination. To address these issues, this paper proposes enhancing carbon emission management systems, gradually expanding the scope of China's carbon emission trading, and promoting data transparency. Legislation and institutional arrangements for internalizing low-carbon costs should also be strengthened, to promote low-carbon development in all industries, setting specific low-carbon targets and requirements for production and operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107683"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142358210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Embodied black carbon emission transfer within and across the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration","authors":"Shan Guo ,&nbsp;Qingyun Zhao ,&nbsp;Ping He ,&nbsp;Yang Wang ,&nbsp;Xiuzhi Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107678","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107678","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Black carbon (BC) is a vital air pollution particulate. Urban agglomeration has complex trade linkages internally and externally. Jing-Jin-Ji (JJJ) is the largest urban agglomeration in northern China and suffers from severe air pollution problems. Despite the importance of BC mitigation and the study area of JJJ, there is a lack of studies exploring the embodied BC emission transfers hidden behind trade within and across the JJJ urban agglomeration at the city scale, given the importance of interregional collaboration among cities for air pollution control. This paper applied the multiregional input-output (MRIO) analysis and structure path analysis (SPA) to investigate the impact of trade on the BC emissions in JJJ and identify the critical sectors and supply chains, using the latest available China's city-level MRIO table. The results show that the embodied BC emission intensity in JJJ is 143.17 g/10⁴ yuan, which exceeds the national average (121.89 g/10⁴ yuan). The Construction sector contributes 27.93 % of the total embodied BC emissions in JJJ. The cities of Handan, Tangshan, and Hengshui are the largest providers of emission-intensive products (3.51, 2.83, and 2.05 Gg, respectively) while Beijing is the largest receiver (5.78 Gg). From a supply chain perspective, Coal and Metal Mining are the main upstream industries, accounting for a considerable proportion of the BC emissions supply chain. To enhance the interregional collaborative governance of BC pollution control in JJJ, horizontal governance mechanisms, decentralized and polycentric urban planning, industrial clustering and technology upgrading, and effective policies for specific regions and industrial sectors are suggested.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107678"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142327563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessment of life cycle environmental impacts of materials, driving pattern, and climatic conditions on battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in a cold region","authors":"Dipankar Khanna,&nbsp;Eskinder Gemechu,&nbsp;Nafisa Mahbub,&nbsp;Jubil Joy,&nbsp;Amit Kumar","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107680","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107680","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) can play an important role in addressing climate change by diminishing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the worldwide road transportation sector. There is limited research on the implications of the use of lightweight materials, driving pattern, and climatic impact on the life cycle GHG emissions in a cold region. To address this limitation, we developed a framework to assess eighteen BEV and four HFCV scenarios for a cold region that consider aforementioned parameters through a combination of driving patterns (in rural, city, and highway driving) and climatic conditions (i.e., summer, mild winter, and severe winter) for both conventional and carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CRFP)-based BEVs. A case study was conducted for Canada, considering its cold regions, using available data for HFCVs. We assessed city driving in summer and highway driving in severe winter conditions for conventional and CFRP-based HFCVs. The results show that the lowest GHG emissions are in cities in summer, with life cycle GHG emissions values of 68.7 g CO₂ eq/km for CFRP-based BEVs. The highest life cycle GHG emissions are 364.4 g CO₂ eq/km with conventional HFCVs on the highway in severe winter conditions' scenario. The operation phase emerges as the primary contributor to life cycle GHG emissions, closely trailed by the production phase. The analysis shows that the most sensitive parameters for CFRP-based BEVs in the city in summer scenario are vehicle lifetime and for conventional HFCVs in the highway in severe winter scenario, fuel cell efficiency. The analysis also shows the range of life cycle GHG emissions for a cold region, with conventional HFCVs on highways in severe winter conditions exhibiting the highest emissions (331.0 g CO₂ eq/km) and CFRP-based HFCVs in the city in summer scenario the lowest (51.0 g CO₂ eq/km).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107680"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142327565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fiscal decentralization's impact on carbon emissions and its interactions with environmental regulations, economic development, and industrialization: Evidence from 288 cities in China","authors":"Zhongyao Cai ,&nbsp;Xuhui Ding ,&nbsp;Ziqian Zhou ,&nbsp;Aixi Han ,&nbsp;Siqi Yu ,&nbsp;Xinyu Yang ,&nbsp;Ping Jiang","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107681","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107681","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Given the global focus on climate change and sustainable development, understanding the impact of China's fiscal decentralization on carbon emissions is essential for supporting green transformation and achieving carbon peaking and neutrality targets. This study examines data from 288 Chinese cities between 2003 and 2021, using fixed effects, moderation effects, and threshold effects models to assess the relationship between fiscal decentralization and carbon emissions, alongside its interaction with environmental regulation, economic development, industrialization, and city hierarchy. The results show that fiscal decentralization significantly aids carbon reduction, but stronger environmental regulations have not effectively slowed emission growth, creating a \"green paradox.\" Relaxed regulations prioritize short-term economic gains, leading to underinvestment and fragmented regulatory efforts, which weaken emissions control. As economic development advances, fiscal decentralization's impact on carbon emissions shifts from positive to negative. Additionally, with increasing industrialization, the negative influence of fiscal decentralization on emission intensity becomes more pronounced. In non-first-tier cities, weak regulatory enforcement and limited autonomy hinder effective carbon reduction policies. To address these issues, the central government should enhance guidance and oversight of local environmental policies, ensure strict enforcement, optimize fiscal resources for environmental investment, and promote green economic transformation. A tailored approach to fiscal decentralization is needed to balance economic growth with environmental protection, achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107681"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142320094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What drives urban low-carbon transition? Findings from China","authors":"Zhuhong Gao,&nbsp;Peng Zhou,&nbsp;Wen Wen","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107679","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107679","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper assesses the city-level performance of low-carbon transition and the contributions of individual attributes to the percentage change of urban low-carbon transition performance. We developed a composite index to evaluate the status quo of low-carbon development and constructed an adjacent Malmquist index to measure the low-carbon transition performance. Then we grafted attribution analysis approach onto the Malmquist index to quantify attributions and applied convergence analysis to reveal characteristics of urban low-carbon transition. We applied the models to the case of 114 Chinese cities over time and found that the performance of urban low-carbon transition had progressed over time. Interestingly, we observed that the top performers were mainly non-pilot cities, even though pilot cities had performed better on average. Attribution analysis showed high heterogeneity over time for both types of cities, but in general, the intensity of technological innovation investment, the level of low-carbon policy system perfection and green space carbon sink were the main drivers. Convergence analysis showed that most cities had moved closer to the frontier of best practice over time and fewer cities were lagging behind their peers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107679"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142320093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative analysis of SDGs implementation: Testing a novel assessment framework approach","authors":"L. Issa ,&nbsp;M. El-Fadel","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107675","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107675","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents a first attempt of a comparative analysis of the sustainable SDGs implementation status and systems' structure. For this purpose, a novel analytical framework approach was tested by coupling a SWOT analysis with a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) process involving a performance assessment based on selected quantitative and qualitative criteria and countries' self-assessment of SDGs achievement reflected in Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs). This performance assessment was conducted based on internal (administrative, legal, and procedural structures) and external factors (Voluntary National Reviews, external players, and funding levels). Countries are then positioned in a quadrant system based on their scores in these factors, revealing their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in SDGs implementation. The framework was tested at a regional level with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a test bed involving twenty adjacent countries. The findings showed the effectiveness of the tested framework approach revealing the heterogeneity of the SDGs implementation level in the region, characterized by varying strengths and weaknesses with challenges related to several internal and external factors. Most notably, the perception that high income is the determinant of successful SDGs implementation is not necessarily accurate as demonstrated otherwise in the tested framework approach. High-income countries may achieve a position of strength and opportunity but can face setbacks due to other influencing factors such as internal governance or external geopolitical challenges. Conversely, low-income countries are not necessarily condemned to a position of weakness and threats with some high and middle-income countries also facing similar challenges. In closure, we highlight measures that can improve the development of the SDGs implementation system at the country level.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107675"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142315909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of urban landscape patterns on land surface temperature at the street block level: Evidence from 38 big Chinese cities","authors":"Anqi Zhang ,&nbsp;Weifeng Li ,&nbsp;Chang Xia ,&nbsp;Huagui Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107673","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107673","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Existing literature has made substantial efforts to examine the relationships between land surface temperature (LST) and urban landscape patterns (ULPs). However, the inconsistent findings from studies on LST conducted in different cities lead to concerns about the significance and importance of ULPs. Moreover, insufficient attention has been paid to vertical ULPs and variations in their thermal effects over space and time. This study conducts a comparative analysis in 38 Chinese megacities across different seasons at the street block level to identify regularities and differences in ULP-LST linkages using geographical open data. The study quantifies ULPs with an amount of widely used and new two- and three-dimensional spatial metrics from three aspects—city plan patterns (CPPs), building patterns (BPs), and land use patterns (LUPs)—based on Conzen's townscape analysis framework. Results reveal that the consideration of overall or specific aspects of ULPs can enhance the explanation of spatial variations in LST, particularly during summer and spring. The improvements are highest for LUPs, followed by CPPs and BPs. Regardless of seasons and cities, building arrangement, built-up areas, greens, water bodies, elevation, slope, and road density are the most influential ULP indicators, whereas block size, sky view factor, building density, and building height present limited or unintended effects. Furthermore, our results indicate the time- and place-varying relationships between ULPs and LST, and some ULP indicators demonstrate two-sided effects on LST across different seasons or cities. We suggest that optimizing building layout and land use composition to increase green-blue spaces and urban shading zones may be more effective for alleviating the urban heat island effect than changing urban density.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107673"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142312662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Carbon emissions reduction target and green utilization of land resources: Evidence from the industrial land market in China","authors":"Xin Lin ,&nbsp;Eddie Chi-man Hui ,&nbsp;Jianfu Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107677","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107677","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Countries around the world are proposing ambitious carbon emissions reduction targets to combat climate change, but rigorous causal evidence on how these targets affect governments' decisions and resource allocation is relatively scarce. Using a sharp regression discontinuity design, this study finds that tougher carbon targets can effectively green local governments' land resource allocation in China, as evidenced by around 15 % more land being supplied to carbon-friendly industries than under weaker targets. However, given resource reliance and the nature of comparative advantage, local governments do not reduce the proportion of land allocated to carbon-intensive industries when facing tough carbon emissions reduction targets. Further evidence indicates that greater pressure to achieve economic growth, higher career incentives, and stronger competitive pressure weaken the effect of tougher carbon targets on the green utilization of land resources, whereas stronger public attention strengthens the efficacy of carbon targets. Counties with tougher carbon targets than others experience simultaneous reductions in carbon emissions and GDP after increasing the share of carbon-friendly industrial land. This work provides policy implications for promoting the greener utilization of land resources and more sustainable development in the context of governments facing trade-offs between the economy and the environment under a multitasking evaluation system.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":309,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Impact Assessment Review","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 107677"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142274432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}