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Author: Moreau, Vincent × Has files: Yes ×

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    The decarbonisation of Europe powered by lifestyle changes
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2021) Costa, Luis; Moreau, Vincent; Thurm, Boris; Yu, Wusheng; Clora, Francesco; Baudry, Gino; Warmuth, Hannes; Hezel, Bernd; Seydewitz, Tobias; Rankovic, Ana; Kelly, Garret; Kropp, Jürgen P.
    Decision makers increasingly recognise the importance of lifestyle changes in reaching low emission targets. How the mitigation potential of changes in mobility, dietary, housing or consumption behaviour compare to those of ambitious technological changes in terms of decarbonisation remains a key question. To evaluate the interplay of behaviour and technological changes, we make use of the European Calculator model and show that changes in behaviour may contribute more than 20% of the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions required for net-zero by 2050. Behaviour and technology-oriented scenarios are tested individually and in combination for the EU plus the UK and Switzerland. The impacts of behavioural change vary across sectors, with significant GHG emission reduction potential and broader benefits. Changes in travel behaviour limit the rising demand for electricity, natural resources and infrastructure costs from the electrification of passenger transport. Adopting a healthy diet reduces emissions substantially compared to intensifying agricultural practices, while at the same time making cropland available for conservation or bioenergy crops. The trade-offs between energy and food may be substantially alleviated when deploying technological and behavioural changes simultaneously. The results suggest that without behavioural change, the dependency of Europe on carbon removal technologies for its net-zero ambitions increases. Structural changes will be necessary to achieve full decarbonisation by 2050, yet changes in lifestyles are crucial, contributing to achieving climate targets sooner.
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    The emission benefits of European integration
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2019) Costa, Luís; Moreau, Vincent
    Simulating the implications of Brexit on the UK's emissions embodied in trade with a multi-region input–output table exposes the benefits of European integration. Under 2014 trade volumes, technologies and energy mixes, a hard Brexit—reverting to a trade pattern between the UK and the EU prior to the European Internal Market (EIM)—would imply a rise of about 0.215Gt of CO2eq in the UK's emissions embodied in imports. This is equivalent to a 38% rise in UK's imported emissions in 2014 and roughly equal to the territorial emissions of the Netherlands in 2017. Substituting imports from the EU with those from the Rest of the World (RoW), under the same conditions, implies adding 0.35 kg of CO2eq, on average, to each dollar of activity imported in the UK. This underlines the emission benefits of an integrated European market abiding to common environmental standards and climate policies. Filling the gap in imports lost from the UK to the EU by stepping up production within the EIM would result in an extra 0.012Gt of CO2eq, a rather small increase when compared to the additional emissions in the UK's imports following Brexit. Should the EU reallocate the lost imports from the UK to the RoW, a total of 0.128Gt of CO2eq would be added to the EIM imports. This exposes the environmental benefits in terms of emissions in keeping UK trade closely linked to the EU and the important role that Single Member States can play indirectly on EU's import emissions. In terms of emissions embodied in trade, the sum of the EU market is, paradoxically and for the better, less than the sum of its individual parts.