Sustainable consumption in mobility from a life cycle assessment
perspective
Roni M. Severis
a, *, 1
, Fl
avio J. Simioni
a
, Jos
e Mauro M.A.P. Moreira
b
,
Rodrigo A.F. Alvarenga
c
a
Environmental Economy and Management Research Group, Santa Catarina State University, Lages, SC, Brazil
b
Embrapa Forestry, Colombo, PR, Brazil
c
Research Group Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent
University, Ghent, Belgium
article info
Article history:
Received 23 September 2018
Received in revised form
7 June 2019
Accepted 17 June 2019
Available online 20 June 2019
Handling editor: Dr. Govindan Kannan
Keywords:
Consumer LCA
transportation
lifestyle
sustainability
Marginal Variation on Impact Assessment
abstract
The shift toward the adoption of sustainable lifestyles may be achieved with the support of environ-
mental indicators, such as those obtained from Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The aim of this paper was to
perform a Consumer LCA of the potential environmental impacts of mobility habits of a generic con-
sumer. This study also proposed a methodology for analyzing life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results
called Marginal Variation on Impact Assessment (MVIA). Mobility habits in lifestyles were modeled
considering transportation to short and long-distance travels. The mobility alternatives considered were
travel on foot, by bicycle, car (private and shared), bus, and airplane. Linear regression was applied to
identify the marginal variation in aggregated single score results of transportation habits. Mobility with a
private car had the highest environmental impact, whereas the use of a bus, bicycle and walking were the
most sustainable alternatives. The results exhibited sensitivity to car-sharing. Taking flights for long-
distance travels resulted in higher environmental impacts than other alternatives. Marginal Variation
on Impact Assessment indicated that the consumer may find the greatest potential to change behavior
and reduce impacts in mobility habits related to short-distance travels as well as by reducing the fre-
quency of long-distance travels. The proposed MVIA methodology fits as a tool to support environmental
life cycle impact assessment.
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The transport sector is a hotspot accounting for about 14% of
greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2014) and 24% of carbon dioxide
emissions from fuel consumption (IEA, 2017). Nonetheless, there is
still a growing demand for passenger commuting and alternatives
of mobility, especially in developing countries (Dalkmann and
Huizenga, 2010). In addition, there is a need for more sustainabil-
ity in transportation, which is determined by factors like the
availability of appropriate transportation infrastructure (Chiou
et al., 2013), the promotion of sustainable consumer policies
(Thøgersen, 2005), and a shift on transportation habits by con-
sumers (Young et al., 2010). In turn, decision-makers are faced with
the challenge of ensuring a larger capacity of transport systems, as
well as to meet the consumer demands for more sustainable al-
ternatives of mobility (United Nations Environment Programme,
2016).
How lower would be individual environmental impacts by
sharing a car when going to work? If doing so rather than taking a
bus, would a consumer increase his or her own environmental
footprint? In this sense, a consumer might wonder: what mobility
alternatives would be more sustainable? The aim of this study is to
perform a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to analyze the potential
environmental impacts of mobility habits of a generic consumer.
Therefore, we aim to provide real consumers with information
supporting a more sustainable change in lifestyles, as well as to
back-up decision-makers to evaluate more precisely what aspects
should be prioritized when formulating policies for sustainable
* Corresponding author. Av. Luiz de Cam~ oes, 2090, Universidade do Estado de
Santa Catarina, Faculdade de Engenharia Ambiental e Sanit aria, Laborat orio de
Gest~ ao e Economia Ambiental, Bairro Conta Dinheiro, CEP: 88.520-000, Lages, SC,
Brazil.
E-mail address: eng.severis@hotmail.com (R.M. Severis).
1
Current address: Life Cycle Assessment Research Group, Federal University of
Santa Catarina, Florian opolis, SC, Brazil.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Cleaner Production
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.06.203
0959-6526/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 579e587