scholarly journals Developing policy packages for low-carbon passenger transport: A mixed methods analysis of trade-offs and synergies

2022 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 107304
Author(s):  
Anna Dugan ◽  
Jakob Mayer ◽  
Annina Thaller ◽  
Gabriel Bachner ◽  
Karl W. Steininger
Author(s):  
Jonas Sonnenschein

Rapid decarbonization requires additional research, development, and demonstration of low-carbon energy technologies. Various financing instruments are in place to support this development. They are frequently assessed through indicator-based evaluations. There is no standard set of indicators for this purpose. This study looks at the Nordic countries, which are leading countries with respect to eco-innovation. Different indicators to assess financing instruments are analysed with respect to their acceptance, the ease of monitoring, and their robustness. None of the indicators emerges as clearly superior from the analysis. Indicator choice is subject to trade-offs and leaves room for steering evaluation results in a desired direction. The study concludes by discussing potential policy implications of biases in indicator-based evaluation.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Xianchun Tan ◽  
Tangqi Tu ◽  
Baihe Gu ◽  
Yuan Zeng ◽  
Tianhang Huang ◽  
...  

Assessing transport CO2 emissions is important in the development of low-carbon strategies, but studies based on mixed land use are rare. This study assessed CO2 emissions from passenger transport in traffic analysis zones (TAZs) at the community level, based on a combination of the mixed-use development model and the vehicle emission calculation model. Based on mixed land use and transport accessibility, the mixed-use development model was adopted to estimate travel demand, including travel modes and distances. As a leading low-carbon city project of international cooperation in China, Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City Core Area was chosen as a case study. The results clearly illustrate travel demand and CO2 emissions of different travel modes between communities and show that car trips account for the vast majority of emissions in all types of travel modes in each community. Spatial emission differences are prominently associated with inadequately mixed land use layouts and unbalanced transport accessibility. The findings demonstrate the significance of the mixed land use and associated job-housing balance in reducing passenger CO2 emissions from passenger transport, especially in per capita emissions. Policy implications are given based on the results to facilitate sophisticated transport emission control at a finer spatial scale. This new framework can be used for assessing the impacts of urban planning on transport emissions to promote sustainable urbanization in developing countries.


2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (10) ◽  
pp. 2468-2484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Chen ◽  
Xiaojun Wang

Purpose In the era of climate change, industrial organizations are under increasing pressure from consumers and regulators to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of product mix as a strategy to deliver the low carbon supply chain under the cap-and-trade policy. Design/methodology/approach The authors incorporate the cap-and-trade policy into the green product mix decision models by using game-theoretic approach and compare these decisions in a decentralized model and a centralized model, respectively. The research explores potential behavioral changes under the cap-and-trade in the context of a two-echelon supply chain. Findings The analysis results show that the channel structure has significant impact on both economic and environmental performances. An integrated supply chain generates more profits. In contrast, a decentralized supply chain has lower carbon emissions. The cap-and-trade policy makes a different impact on the economic and environmental performances of the supply chain. Balancing the trade-offs is critical to ensure the long-term sustainability. Originality/value The research offers many interesting observations with respect to the effect of product mix strategy on operational decisions and the trade-offs between costs and carbon emissions under the cap-and-trade policy. The insights derived from the analysis not only help firms to make important operational and strategic decisions to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining their economic competitiveness, but also make meaningful contribution to governments’ policy making for carbon emissions control.


Author(s):  
Giuliano Russo ◽  
Tiago Silva Jesus ◽  
Kevin Deane ◽  
Abdinasir Yusuf Osman ◽  
David McCoy

Background: The aim of this research was to synthetise the existing evidence on the impact of epidemic-related lockdown measures on women and children’s health in low-and-lower-middle-income countries. Methods: A mixed-methods systematic review was conducted of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods evidence. Between November 1st-10th 2021, seven scientific databases were searched. The inclusion criteria were that the paper provided evidence on the impact of lockdown and related measures, focused on low-and-lower-middle-income countries, addressed impacts on women and child’s health, addressed epidemics from 2000-2020, was peer-reviewed, provided original evidence, and was published in English. The Joanne Briggs Institute’s critical appraisal tools were used to assess the quality of the studies, and the PRISMA guidelines for reporting. The evidence from the papers was grouped by type of lockdown measure and categories of impact, using a narrative data-based convergent synthesis design. Results: The review process identified 46 papers meeting the inclusion criteria from 17 countries whichall focussed on the COVID-19 and Ebola epidemics. The evidence on the decrease of utilisation of health services showed plummeting immunisation rates and faltering use of maternal and perinatal services, which was linked to a growth of premature deaths. Impacts on the mental health of children and women is well-established, with lockdowns associated with surges in depression, anxiety and low life satisfaction. Vulnerability may be compounded by lockdowns, as livelihoods are disrupted, and poverty levels increase. Conclusion: Limitations included that searches were conducted in late-2020 as new research was being published, and that some evidence not published in English may have been excluded. Epidemic-related lockdown measures carry consequences for the health of women and children in lower-income settings. Governments will need to weigh the trade-offs of introducing such measures and consider policies to mitigate their impacts on the most vulnerable.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuli Bian ◽  
Liang Dong ◽  
Zhaowen Liu ◽  
Lezhu Zhang

Urban-industrial symbiosis (UIS) is an important system innovation via sectors integration, and has been widely recognized as a novel pathway for achieving regional eco-industrial development. Eco-efficiency, as a mature approach and indicator, offers an effective tool to uncover both the status and trends of such a transformation. However, most studies have focused on the whole industry or city as a whole, which has meant that a view from the sectoral level focusing on UIS was missing. To fill this research gap, this paper applied a modified eco-efficiency approach using integrating input–output analysis (IOA) and carbon footprint (CFP) to identify the eco-efficiency benefits of UIS from a sectoral level. Specifically, sector-level economic data (as economic outputs) and CFP (as environmental impacts) are used to calculate the sectoral eco-efficiency. IOA helps to offer sectoral economic data, and, with integrating process-based inventory analysis, to conduct a CFP calculation at the sectoral level. To test the feasibility of the developed approach, urban industrial symbiosis scenarios in one typical industrial city of China were analyzed. This city is held up as the national pilot of the circular economy, low-carbon city, and ecological civilization in China. Scenarios analysis on a business as usual (no UIS) and with UIS implementation in 2012 were undertaken and compared with the change of sectoral CFP and eco-efficiency. The results highlighted a moderate increase in eco-efficiency and trade-offs in certain sectors, indicating that UIS was moderately effective in increasing the urban resource efficiency from a sectoral level, but a refined design was required. Policy recommendations are made based on the analytical results, to inform decision makers and urban and industrial managers seeking to improve the implementation of UIS as a means of achieving greater urban sustainability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 1029-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenni Chen ◽  
Huibin Du ◽  
Jianglong Li ◽  
Frank Southworth ◽  
Shoufeng Ma

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. e031696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J Noble ◽  
Amy Mathieson ◽  
Leone Ridsdale ◽  
EA Holmes ◽  
Myfanwy Morgan ◽  
...  

IntroductionEmergency department (ED) visits for epilepsy are common, costly, often clinically unnecessary and typically lead to little benefit for epilepsy management. An ‘Alternative Care Pathway’ (ACP) for epilepsy, which diverts people with epilepsy (PWE) away from ED when ‘999’ is called and leads to care elsewhere, might generate savings and facilitate improved ambulatory care. It is unknown though what features it should incorporate to make it acceptable to persons from this particularly vulnerable target population. It also needs to be National Health Service (NHS) feasible. This project seeks to identify the optimal ACP configuration.Methods and analysisMixed-methods project comprising three-linked stages. In Stage 1, NHS bodies will be surveyed on ACPs they are considering and semi-structured interviews with PWE and their carers will explore attributes of care important to them and their concerns and expectations regarding ACPs. In Stage 2, Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE) will be completed with PWE and carers to identify the relative importance placed on different care attributes under common seizure scenarios and the trade-offs people are willing to make. The uptake of different ACP configurations will be estimated. In Stage 3, two Knowledge Exchange workshops using a nominal group technique will be run. NHS managers, health professionals, commissioners and patient and carer representatives will discuss DCE results and form a consensus on which ACP configuration best meets users’ needs and is NHS feasible.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval: NRES Committee (19/WM/0012) and King’s College London ethics Committee (LRS-18/19-10353). Primary output will be identification of optimal ACP configuration which should be prioritised for implementation and evaluation. A pro-active dissemination strategy will make those considering developing or supporting an epilepsy ACP aware of the project and opportunities to take part in it. It will also ensure they are informed of its findings.Project registration numberResearchregistry4723.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document