LCA in Strategic Decision Making for Long Term Urban Transportation System Transformation

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of how Siemens uses LCA methodology and tools to support cities in the decision-making process to promote sustainable urban transportation systems. It focuses on GHGs and local air pollution. Determining the cause of GHG emissions and air pollution requires flexible scopes and a highly parameterized, hierarchical model, which can be adapted to any city’s transportation system. Emission forecasting capabilities are very important since motorized transportation modes quickly change properties over time. The model screens a large set of infrastructure improvement measures by the click of a button and analyses their impact on KPIs for different years. Applicability, challenges and limits of LCA to the specific application of urban transportation system modelling are discussed.