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In industrial ecology, approaches have been developed to analyze the contribution of specific sectors to environmental impacts within supply chains. In economics, a range of methods addresses the forward linkage (use of output) and backward linkage (dependency on inputs) of sectors, and the analysis of key sectors. This article offers a formal investigation of the relationship between these. It shows that both the analysis of supply chain impacts and of intersectoral linkages can be seen as special cases of a more general hypothetical extraction method (HEM). In HEM, sectors' role is assessed as the effect of their removal on the input–output model's solution. HEM also allows for the (partial) extraction of individual transactions. HEM thus offers a flexible approach to assessing the contribution of one or several sectors, or transactions, or parts thereof, to value added or footprint of any final demand. It can be applied to study the environmental footprints of companies or intermediate products, the contribution of certain inputs to sectors, or the potential impact of disruptions of supply chains on producers and consumers. In this article, the price model for HEM is introduced to identify the contribution of the extracted (target) sectors to the price or unit footprint of a commodity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decarbonization of electricity generation can support climate-change mitigation and presents an opportunity to address pollution resulting from fossil-fuel combustion. Generally, renewable technologies require higher initial investments in infrastructure than fossil-based power systems. To assess the tradeoffs of increased up-front emissions and reduced operational emissions, we present, to our knowledge, the first global, integrated life-cycle assessment (LCA) of long-term, wide-scale implementation of electricity generation from renewable sources (i.e., photovoltaic and solar thermal, wind, and hydropower) and of carbon dioxide capture and storage for fossil power generation. We compare emissions causing particulate matter exposure, freshwater ecotoxicity, freshwater eutrophication, and climate change for the climate-change-mitigation (BLUE Map) and business-as-usual (Baseline) scenarios of the International Energy Agency up to 2050. We use a vintage stock model to conduct an LCA of newly installed capacity year-by-year for each region, thus accounting for changes in the energy mix used to manufacture future power plants. Under the Baseline scenario, emissions of air and water pollutants more than double whereas the low-carbon technologies introduced in the BLUE Map scenario allow a doubling of electricity supply while stabilizing or even reducing pollution. Material requirements per unit generation for low-carbon technologies can be higher than for conventional fossil generation: 11-40 times more copper for photovoltaic systems and 6-14 times more iron for wind power plants. However, only two years of current global copper and one year of iron production will suffice to build a low-carbon energy system capable of supplying the world's electricity needs in 2050.

In Life Cycle Assessment and Comparative Risk Assessment potential human exposure to toxic pollutants can be expressed as the human intake fraction (iF), representing the fraction of the quantity emitted that enters the human population. To assess model uncertainty in the human intake fraction, ingestion and inhalation iFs of 367 substances emitted to air and freshwater were calculated with two commonly applied multi-media fate and exposure models, CalTOX and USES-LCA. Comparison of the model outcomes reveal that uncertainty in the ingestion iFs was up to a factor of 70. The uncertainty in the inhalation iFs was up to a factor of 865,000. The comparison showed that relatively few model differences account for the uncertainties found. An optimal model structure in the calculation of human intake fractions can be achieved by including (1) rain and no-rain scenarios, (2) a continental sea water compartment, (3) drinking water purification, (4) pH-correction of chemical properties, and (5) aerosol-associated deposition on plants. Finally, vertical stratification of the soil compartment combined with a chemical-dependent soil depth may be considered in future intake fraction calculations.

The foundations of today's societies are provided by manufactured capital accumulation driven by investment decisions through time. Reconceiving how the manufactured assets are harnessed in the production-consumption system is at the heart of the paradigm shifts necessary for long-term sustainability. Our research integrates 50 years of economic and environmental data to provide the global legacy environmental footprint (LEF) and unveil the historical material extractions, greenhouse gas emissions, and health impacts accrued in today's manufactured capital. We show that between 1995 and 2019, global LEF growth outpaced GDP and population growth, and the current high level of national capital stocks has been heavily relying on global supply chains in metals. The LEF shows a larger or growing gap between developed economies (DEs) and less-developed economies (LDEs) while economic returns from global asset supply chains disproportionately flow to DEs, resulting in a double burden for LDEs. Our results show that ensuring best practice in asset production while prioritizing well-being outcomes is essential in addressing global inequalities and protecting the environment. Achieving this requires a paradigm shift in sustainability science and policy, as well as in green finance decision-making, to move beyond the focus on the resource use and emissions of daily operations of the assets and instead take into account the long-term environmental footprints of capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]