Cities are thought to be associated with most of humanity’s consumption of natural resources and impacts on the environment. They rely on ecosystems beyond their limits to provide natural resources that are unavailable within their boundaries, and this reliance increases as cities grow. Cities not only constitute major centre of economic activity, knowledge, innovation, and governance, but they are also linked to approximately 70% to 80% of global carbon dioxide emissions. This makes cities primary agents of change in a resource and carbon constraint world. In order to set meaningful targets, design successful policies, and implement effective mitigation strategies, it is important that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for cities is accurate, comparable, comprehensive, and complete. Despite recent developments in the standardization of city GHG accounting, there is still a lack of consistent guidelines regarding indirect emissions, thus hampering efforts to identify mitigation priorities and responsibilities. A new conceptual framework is introduced (based on environmental input-output analysis) that allows for a consistent and complete reconciliation of direct and indirect GHG emissions from a city. An in-depth and accurate literature analysis has been carried out, papers on each urban issue and strategy are gathered from 2000 to 2017 through online catalogues and cross-citation. Common keywords are searched related to urban sustainability and environmental impact. Only the most relevant papers were considered due to the large amount of literature on urban environmental impact. Almost a hundred papers have been analysed and the conclusion was reached on the use of IOA methods, as best suited methods for this work scopes. The Input-Output analysis shows local and national origins and destinations of flows of embodied emissions, it should contribute to identify the economic activities that were involved on their supply and transformation. Typically, its quantification requires data that is not easily available in different geographies. This work develops and makes use of a methodology based on monetary input–output tables and international trade statistics that might be easily replicable to many metropolitan areas in the world. The method developed is tested applying it to the greater metropolitan area of Milan, Italy. The results and limitations of the approach are discussed in the light of possible mitigation strategies and policies.
Le città sono ritenute responsabili della maggior parte del consumo di risorse naturali e dell'impatto sull'ambiente da parte dell'umanità. Esse dipendono dagli ecosistemi per fornirsi di risorse naturali che non sono disponibili all'interno dei loro confini, e questa dipendenza aumenta con la crescita urbana. Le città non solo costituiscono un importante centro di attività economica, conoscenza e innovazione, ma sono anche collegate a circa il 70-80% delle emissioni globali di biossido di carbonio. Questo le rende i principali agenti del cambiamento in un mondo caratterizzato da scarse risorse e vincoli di emissioni di gas a effetto serra. Al fine di fissare obiettivi significativi, elaborare politiche efficaci e attuare strategie di mitigazione, è importante che la contabilizzazione delle emissioni di gas serra nelle città sia accurata, comparabile e completa. Nonostante i recenti sviluppi nella standardizzazione della contabilità dei gas serra delle città, mancano ancora linee guida coerenti sulle emissioni indirette, ostacolando così gli sforzi per identificare le priorità e le responsabilità di mitigazione. In questo lavoro di tesi viene introdotto un nuovo quadro concettuale (basato sull'analisi ambientale input-output) che consente di riconciliare in modo coerente e completo le emissioni dirette e indirette di gas serra di una città. È stata effettuata un'analisi bibliografica approfondita e accurata, sono stati raccolti documenti su ogni tema e strategia urbana, dal 2000 al 2017, attraverso cataloghi online e citazioni incrociate. Sono state cercate parole chiave comuni relative alla sostenibilità urbana e all'impatto ambientale. A causa della grande quantità di letteratura sull'impatto ambientale urbano, sono stati presi in considerazione solo i documenti più rilevanti. Sono stati analizzati più di un centinaio di documenti e si è giunti alla conclusione che i metodi input/output (IO) siano i più adatti allo scopo di questa tesi. Questo lavoro sviluppa un protocollo per contabilizzare le emissioni urbane dirette e indirette di gas serra e di inquinanti dell’aria per ciascun settore economico, e lo applica alla provincia di Milano; inoltre sviluppa un modello che tenga conto di come un cambiamento tecnologico o economico possa variare le emissioni di carbonio o di inquinanti dell’aria in una città. L’applicazione dei modelli IO richiede dati che non sono facilmente disponibili in diverse aree geografiche. Viene utilizza una metodologia basata su tavole input-output monetarie che potrebbe essere facilmente replicabile in molte aree metropolitane del mondo. Il metodo sviluppato viene testato applicandola all'area metropolitana di Milano.
Development of a procedure to account cities environmental impact
MAGGIONI, ELISA
2016/2017
Abstract
Cities are thought to be associated with most of humanity’s consumption of natural resources and impacts on the environment. They rely on ecosystems beyond their limits to provide natural resources that are unavailable within their boundaries, and this reliance increases as cities grow. Cities not only constitute major centre of economic activity, knowledge, innovation, and governance, but they are also linked to approximately 70% to 80% of global carbon dioxide emissions. This makes cities primary agents of change in a resource and carbon constraint world. In order to set meaningful targets, design successful policies, and implement effective mitigation strategies, it is important that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for cities is accurate, comparable, comprehensive, and complete. Despite recent developments in the standardization of city GHG accounting, there is still a lack of consistent guidelines regarding indirect emissions, thus hampering efforts to identify mitigation priorities and responsibilities. A new conceptual framework is introduced (based on environmental input-output analysis) that allows for a consistent and complete reconciliation of direct and indirect GHG emissions from a city. An in-depth and accurate literature analysis has been carried out, papers on each urban issue and strategy are gathered from 2000 to 2017 through online catalogues and cross-citation. Common keywords are searched related to urban sustainability and environmental impact. Only the most relevant papers were considered due to the large amount of literature on urban environmental impact. Almost a hundred papers have been analysed and the conclusion was reached on the use of IOA methods, as best suited methods for this work scopes. The Input-Output analysis shows local and national origins and destinations of flows of embodied emissions, it should contribute to identify the economic activities that were involved on their supply and transformation. Typically, its quantification requires data that is not easily available in different geographies. This work develops and makes use of a methodology based on monetary input–output tables and international trade statistics that might be easily replicable to many metropolitan areas in the world. The method developed is tested applying it to the greater metropolitan area of Milan, Italy. The results and limitations of the approach are discussed in the light of possible mitigation strategies and policies.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/139718