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Norihiro Itsubo
Tokyo City University Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies Dean, Graduate School of Environmental and Information Studies, 3-3-1 Ushikubo-Nishi, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama, 224-8551, Japan

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Journal article
Published: 12 June 2021 in Cleaner and Responsible Consumption
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In recent years, an innovative eco-designed container (replace type) has been developed with expectation of further reducing plastic consumption. This container is used by installing the flexible package directly. Moreover, it contributed to removal of the process of refilling. This study aimed to clarify the environmental impact of innovative eco-designed container by applying LCA, targeting shampoo bottles in three models, which are Pump model (using only pump bottles), Refill model (using a pump bottle and flexible packages) and Replace model (using the innovative eco-designed container and flexible packages). LIME2(Life cycle Impact Assessment Method based on Endpoint Modeling Version 2) was applied in the environmental assessment. According to the result of weighting across endpoints, the refill and replace models reduced the environmental impact by 20% and 25% respectively compared to the bottle model. This result is due to the reduction in oil, carbon dioxide (CO 2) and sulfur oxide (SO X) brought by cutting bottle plastic consumption.

ACS Style

Toru Okada; Manabu Shibata; Yushi Sakata; Atsushi Nakajima; Norihiro Itsubo. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the innovative eco-designed container for shampoo. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption 2021, 3, 100027 .

AMA Style

Toru Okada, Manabu Shibata, Yushi Sakata, Atsushi Nakajima, Norihiro Itsubo. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the innovative eco-designed container for shampoo. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption. 2021; 3 ():100027.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Toru Okada; Manabu Shibata; Yushi Sakata; Atsushi Nakajima; Norihiro Itsubo. 2021. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the innovative eco-designed container for shampoo." Cleaner and Responsible Consumption 3, no. : 100027.

Journal article
Published: 02 April 2021 in Sustainability
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The open burning of agricultural residues derived from rice is a social issue in Thailand, as it causes air pollution in the form of smoke. A way to prevent smoke air pollution is to pulverize glycosylated non-edible biomass and convert it to monosodium glutamate (MSG). This study assessed MSG produced by non-edible biomass and compared the environmental performance of MSG produced using tapioca starch. The scope of this study ranges from the cultivation of raw materials to the production of MSG. The adopted impact categories include carbon, water, and air pollution. The primary data refer to the average unit input and fuel consumption of annual MSG production. The secondary data are used for inventories, namely, Ecoinvent 3, the Water Footprint Network, and the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook. We also conducted an impact assessment of the health impacts and weighting across several impact categories using LIME-3. The human health impact assessments for MSG from non-edible biomass and tapioca starch show gains of 1.92 × 10−5 and 3.59 × 10−5 DALYs per kg MSG, respectively. This difference is due to declining water scarcity and air pollution footprints. We found that using rice straw prevents water scarcity and smoke air pollution caused by open burning.

ACS Style

Keiji Nakamura; Norihiro Itsubo. Lifecycle Assessment of Monosodium Glutamate Made from Non-Edible Biomass. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3951 .

AMA Style

Keiji Nakamura, Norihiro Itsubo. Lifecycle Assessment of Monosodium Glutamate Made from Non-Edible Biomass. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (7):3951.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Keiji Nakamura; Norihiro Itsubo. 2021. "Lifecycle Assessment of Monosodium Glutamate Made from Non-Edible Biomass." Sustainability 13, no. 7: 3951.

Review
Published: 05 February 2021 in Environments
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Life cycle assessment (LCA) has received attention as a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of products and services. In the last 20 years, research on the topic has increased, and now more than 25,000 articles are related to LCA in scientific journals databases such as the Scopus database; however, the concept is relatively new in Africa, where the number of networks has been highlighted to be very low when compared to the other regions. This paper focuses on a review of life cycle assessments conducted in Africa over the last 20 years. It aims at highlighting the current research gap for African LCA. A total of 199 papers were found for the whole continent; this number is lower than that for both Japan and Germany (more than 400 articles each) and nearly equal to developing countries such as Thailand. Agriculture is the sector which received the most attention, representing 53 articles, followed by electricity and energy (60 articles for the two sectors). South Africa (43), Egypt (23), and Tunisia (19) were the countries where most of the research was conducted. Even if the number of articles related to LCA have increased in recent years, many steps still remain. For example, establishing a specific life cycle inventory (LCI) database for African countries or a targeted ideal life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method. Several African key sectors could also be assessed further.

ACS Style

Selim Karkour; Safa Rachid; Mariem Maaoui; Chia-Chun Lin; Norihiro Itsubo. Status of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Africa. Environments 2021, 8, 10 .

AMA Style

Selim Karkour, Safa Rachid, Mariem Maaoui, Chia-Chun Lin, Norihiro Itsubo. Status of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Africa. Environments. 2021; 8 (2):10.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Selim Karkour; Safa Rachid; Mariem Maaoui; Chia-Chun Lin; Norihiro Itsubo. 2021. "Status of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Africa." Environments 8, no. 2: 10.

Journal article
Published: 15 January 2021 in Energies
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The global demand for air conditioners (ACs) has more than tripled since 1990, with 1.6 billion units currently in use. With the rapid economic and population growth of countries located in the hottest parts in the world, this trend is likely to continue in the future. The aim of this study was to show the benefits of introducing air conditioners with different materials or different technologies such as inverters with high energy-saving performance on the environment and human health in Indonesia. To evaluate the environmental impacts of the different technologies, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of air conditioners was conducted using the life-cycle impact assessment method based on endpoint modeling (LIME3). As expected, the use stage has the largest global warming potential (GWP), representing more than 90% of the impact, whereas copper and nickel have the most important impact in terms of resource consumption (about 50%). We found that the impacts are heavily dependent on the country’s energy mix, but reduction can be achieved by introducing better technologies. The integration factors from LIME3 were then applied to estimate the external cost of each model; the results showed that the use stage also has the most influence. Even though the impact of climate change is important, air pollution impact must be seriously considered as its impact was found to be the highest (about 60% of the total impact). The external cost was finally compared to the possible benefits produced by the introduction of air conditioning technologies during their 10-year life cycle. We found that the impacts are twice that of the benefit for the best model (USD 2003 vs. 1064); however, the novelty of this study is that the benefit was also considered. In the future, developing countries should promote AC models with inverters, refrigerants with low global warming impact such as natural refrigerants, and encourage the recycling of units as soon as possible. The energy mix for electricity production is also a key parameter to consider.

ACS Style

Selim Karkour; Tomohiko Ihara; Tadahiro Kuwayama; Kazuki Yamaguchi; Norihiro Itsubo. Life Cycle Assessment of Residential Air Conditioners Considering the Benefits of Their Use: A Case Study in Indonesia. Energies 2021, 14, 447 .

AMA Style

Selim Karkour, Tomohiko Ihara, Tadahiro Kuwayama, Kazuki Yamaguchi, Norihiro Itsubo. Life Cycle Assessment of Residential Air Conditioners Considering the Benefits of Their Use: A Case Study in Indonesia. Energies. 2021; 14 (2):447.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Selim Karkour; Tomohiko Ihara; Tadahiro Kuwayama; Kazuki Yamaguchi; Norihiro Itsubo. 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Residential Air Conditioners Considering the Benefits of Their Use: A Case Study in Indonesia." Energies 14, no. 2: 447.

Journal article
Published: 09 December 2020 in Sustainability
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According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) annual Emissions Gap Report 2019, further reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are needed to reduce climate change impacts. In Japan, the 2030 Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) target is an emissions reduction of 26% compared to 2013. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has led to 43,341,451 confirmed cases and 1,157,509 confirmed deaths globally and affected 218 countries (as of 27 October 2020). In Japan, as of the same date, 96,948 infectious cases and 1724 deaths related to the new coronavirus had been recorded. These numbers continue to increase. In Japan, in March 2020, the number of international tourist arrivals decreased by about 93% compared to last year at the same period. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported several significant scenarios for the tourism industry. COVID-19 is the greatest shock to international tourism since 1950 and represents an abrupt end to the 10-year period of sustained growth that followed the 2009 financial crisis. It was thought that it would be possible to analyze the economic, environmental, and social impacts of rapid social changes. Thus, this study estimates changes in Japan’s tourist consumption, the carbon footprint (CFP), and employment due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The calculations in this study adopt a lifecycle approach using input–output tables. Based on these observations, this study uses four scenarios (SR 1, no recovery until December; SR 2, recovery from October; SR 3, recovery from July or September; and SR 0, same growth rate as 2018–2019) for Japan to calculate the CFP and employment change using input–output table analysis based on tourist consumption, which is a tourism metric. According to our results (2019 vs. SR 1 and 3), the consumption loss is between 20,540 billion yen (−65.1%) and 12,704 billion yen (−39.1%), the CFP reduction is between 89,488 kt-CO2eq (−64.2%) and 54,030 kt-CO2eq (−37.5%), and the employment loss is between 2,677,000 people (−64.2%) and 1,678,000 people (−37.5%). As of November 2020, the tourism industry continues to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the post-COVID-19 society, it will be necessary to maintain the GHG emissions reductions achieved in this short period and realize economic recovery. This recovery must also be sustainable for tourism stakeholders and society.

ACS Style

Yusuke Kitamura; Selim Karkour; Yuki Ichisugi; Norihiro Itsubo. Evaluation of the Economic, Environmental, and Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Japanese Tourism Industry. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10302 .

AMA Style

Yusuke Kitamura, Selim Karkour, Yuki Ichisugi, Norihiro Itsubo. Evaluation of the Economic, Environmental, and Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Japanese Tourism Industry. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (24):10302.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yusuke Kitamura; Selim Karkour; Yuki Ichisugi; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "Evaluation of the Economic, Environmental, and Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Japanese Tourism Industry." Sustainability 12, no. 24: 10302.

Journal article
Published: 30 June 2020 in Sustainability
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The decrease in human activities following the COVID-19 pandemic caused an important change in PM2.5 concentration, especially in the most polluted areas in the world: China (44.28 and 18.88 µg/m3 in the first quarters of 2019 and 2020, respectively), India (49.84 and 31.12, respectively), and Nigeria (75.30 and 34.31, respectively). In this study, satellite observations from all around the world of PM2.5 concentration were collected on the grid scale with a high resolution of 0.125° (about 15km). Population data for 2020 were also collected on the same scale. Statistical data from the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the diseases caused by air pollution (e.g., stroke) were obtained for each country to determine the change in mortality between the first quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. Expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALY), it was found that the largest reductions were observed for China (−13.9 million DALY), India (−6.3 million DALY), and Nigeria (−2.3 million DALY).

ACS Style

Selim Karkour; Norihiro Itsubo. Influence of the Covid-19 Crisis on Global PM2.5 Concentration and Related Health Impacts. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5297 .

AMA Style

Selim Karkour, Norihiro Itsubo. Influence of the Covid-19 Crisis on Global PM2.5 Concentration and Related Health Impacts. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (13):5297.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Selim Karkour; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "Influence of the Covid-19 Crisis on Global PM2.5 Concentration and Related Health Impacts." Sustainability 12, no. 13: 5297.

Journal article
Published: 18 June 2020 in Sustainability
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The business event sector expects large economic impact as MICE (Meeting (M), Incentive Travel (I), Convention (C), and Exhibition and Event (E)). Some guidelines for MICE sustainability include the requirement for carbon management (carbon neutral, measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon offset, etc.) as a positive contribution to mitigating climate change. According to the environmental guidelines for events updated by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in 2019, goods should be procured after considering the environmental load items and life cycle stages from the life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. In this study, we evaluated the business events sector, not only transportation but also accommodation of participants from overseas, as well as food and beverages, souvenirs and shopping, and entertainment and tourism expenses. These items were not included in the previous existing case studies. We evaluated the carbon footprint (CFP), calculated from consumption information using input-output analysis. In this study, the total CFP was 804.8 t-CO2eq (M, I, C-ICCA (Convention based on an international conference standard from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)), and E) and transportation (Transp, 56.0%) contributed the most, followed by planning and preparation (Plan, 13.2%) and accommodation (Acc, 12.0%), souvenirs, shopping, entertainment and sightseeing (SE, 10.1%), and food and beverages (FB, 7.9%). In the case of M, I, C-JNTO (Convention based on an international conference standard from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)) and E, the total CFP was 1714.4 t-CO2eq and transportation (Transp, 54.3%) contributed the most, followed by planning and preparation (Plan, 14.3%) and accommodation (Acc, 12.9%), food and beverages (FB, 9.2%), and souvenirs, shopping, entertainment and sightseeing (SE, 8.2%). From this result, the CFP of this sector was found to be due to transportation, planning and preparation, accommodation, food and beverages, and souvenirs. Sustainability guidelines recommend that organizers procure products that contribute to lower CFP, and it is considered good practice to provide participants with such product and service choices. The providers themselves also need action to offer low CFP products. Assessing changes in consumption items in future studies may help to calculate environmental impacts and sustainability.

ACS Style

Yusuke Kitamura; Selim Karkour; Yuki Ichisugi; Norihiro Itsubo. Carbon Footprint Evaluation of the Business Event Sector in Japan. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5001 .

AMA Style

Yusuke Kitamura, Selim Karkour, Yuki Ichisugi, Norihiro Itsubo. Carbon Footprint Evaluation of the Business Event Sector in Japan. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (12):5001.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yusuke Kitamura; Selim Karkour; Yuki Ichisugi; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "Carbon Footprint Evaluation of the Business Event Sector in Japan." Sustainability 12, no. 12: 5001.

Journal article
Published: 17 March 2020 in Resources
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In Japan, approximately 23.5 billion paper diapers are produced annually (total of diapers for infants and adults produced in 2018). The majority of used paper diapers are disposed of through incineration; in certain regions, some paper diapers are recycled, mostly by open-loop recycling or thermal recycling. To date, several methods of recycling used paper diapers have been proposed and developed, but these methods are considered to have different types and amounts of recycled materials and different environmental performances. In this study, a new technology was developed for the closed-loop recycling of used paper diapers, and the use of the recycled pulp and superabsorbent polymer (SAP) as materials for paper diapers was evaluated via the environmental impact using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, using data obtained from experimental facilities for recycling. The results between the comparison of the new method with the landfill and incineration processes demonstrate a greenhouse gas reduction of 47% and 39%, respectively. The results also show that such recycling is expected to reduce land-use occupation and water consumption, closely related to the pulp, main raw material of paper diapers.

ACS Style

Norihiro Itsubo; Mitsuhiro Wada; Shigeo Imai; Akira Myoga; Naoki Makino; Koichi Shobatake. Life Cycle Assessment of the Closed-Loop Recycling of Used Disposable Diapers. Resources 2020, 9, 34 .

AMA Style

Norihiro Itsubo, Mitsuhiro Wada, Shigeo Imai, Akira Myoga, Naoki Makino, Koichi Shobatake. Life Cycle Assessment of the Closed-Loop Recycling of Used Disposable Diapers. Resources. 2020; 9 (3):34.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Norihiro Itsubo; Mitsuhiro Wada; Shigeo Imai; Akira Myoga; Naoki Makino; Koichi Shobatake. 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of the Closed-Loop Recycling of Used Disposable Diapers." Resources 9, no. 3: 34.

Journal article
Published: 12 March 2020 in Sustainability
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The importance of the contribution of tourism to climate change has been noted by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). By combining a process-based life cycle assessment (LCA) and input–output analysis, several researchers have attempted to evaluate the impacts of the tourism industry, as well as its products and services. Indeed, the tourism sector has a wide range of industries, including travel and tours, transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, amusement, souvenirs, etc. However, the existing cases do not show a breakdown of the impact on climate change. In this paper, the carbon footprint (CFP) of the Japanese tourism industry was calculated based on tourist consumption, using the Japanese input–output table and the Japanese tourism industry. We demonstrate that the total emissions were approximately 136 million t-CO2 per year. The contribution ratio of each stage is as follows: Transport 56.3%, Souvenirs 23.2%, Petrol (direct emissions) 16.9%, Accommodation 9.8%, Food and Beverage 7.5%, and Activities 3.0%. Then, in the breakdown, the impacts are in the following order: Air transport 24.7%, Petrol (direct emissions) 16.9%, Accommodation 9.8%, Food and Beverage 7.5%, Petrol 6.1%, Textile products 5.3%, Food items 4.9%, Confectionery 4.8%, Rail transport 3.9%, Cosmetics 1.9%, and Footwear 1.8%. In addition to transportation, this research also highlights the contribution from souvenirs, accommodation, and food and beverages.

ACS Style

Yusuke Kitamura; Yuki Ichisugi; Selim Karkour; Norihiro Itsubo. Carbon Footprint Evaluation Based on Tourist Consumption toward Sustainable Tourism in Japan. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2219 .

AMA Style

Yusuke Kitamura, Yuki Ichisugi, Selim Karkour, Norihiro Itsubo. Carbon Footprint Evaluation Based on Tourist Consumption toward Sustainable Tourism in Japan. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (6):2219.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yusuke Kitamura; Yuki Ichisugi; Selim Karkour; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "Carbon Footprint Evaluation Based on Tourist Consumption toward Sustainable Tourism in Japan." Sustainability 12, no. 6: 2219.

Journal article
Published: 05 March 2020 in Sustainability
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The external costs derived from the environmental impacts of electricity generation can be significant and should not be underrated, as their consideration can be useful to establish a ranking between different electricity generation sources to inform decision-makers. The aim of this research is to transparently evaluate the recent external cost of electricity generation in G20 countries using a global life-cycle impact-assessment (LCIA) method: life cycle impact assessment method based on endpoint modeling (LIME3). The weighting factors developed in the LIME3 method for each G20 country enable one to convert the different environmental impacts (not only climate change and air pollution) resulting from the emissions and resources consumption during the full lifecycle of electricity generation—from resource extraction to electricity generation—into a monetary value. Moreover, in LIME3, not only the weighting factors are developed for each G20 country but also all the impact categories. Using this method, it was possible to determine accurately which resources or emission had an environmental impact in each country. This study shows that the countries relying heavily on coal, such as India (0.172 $/kWh) or Indonesia (0.135 $/kWh) have the highest external costs inside the G20, with air pollution and climate accounting together for more than 80% of the costs. In these two countries, the ratio of the external cost/market price was the highest in the G20, at 2.3 and 1.7, respectively. On the other hand, countries with a higher reliance on renewable energies, such as Canada (0.008 $/kWh) or Brazil (0.012 $/kWh) have lower induced costs. When comparing with the market price, it has to be noted also that for instance Canada is able to generate cheap electricity with a low-external cost. For most of the other G20 countries, this cost was estimated at between about 0.020$ and 0.040 $/kWh. By estimating the external cost of each electricity generation technology available in each G20 country, this study also highlighted that sometimes the external cost of the electricity generated from one specific technology can be significant even when using renewables due to resource scarcity—for example, the 0.068 $/kWh of electricity generated from hydropower in India. This information, missing from most previous studies, should not be omitted by decision makers when considering which type of electricity generation source to prioritize.

ACS Style

Selim Karkour; Yuki Ichisugi; Amila Abeynayaka; Norihiro Itsubo. External-Cost Estimation of Electricity Generation in G20 Countries: Case Study Using a Global Life-Cycle Impact-Assessment Method. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2002 .

AMA Style

Selim Karkour, Yuki Ichisugi, Amila Abeynayaka, Norihiro Itsubo. External-Cost Estimation of Electricity Generation in G20 Countries: Case Study Using a Global Life-Cycle Impact-Assessment Method. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (5):2002.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Selim Karkour; Yuki Ichisugi; Amila Abeynayaka; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "External-Cost Estimation of Electricity Generation in G20 Countries: Case Study Using a Global Life-Cycle Impact-Assessment Method." Sustainability 12, no. 5: 2002.

Journal article
Published: 29 February 2020 in Resources
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Paper can be reused to efficiently manage biomass consumption, meaning that it has potential as an environmentally friendly material. On the other hand, because of high energy usage during the recycling process and transportation inefficiencies, there is a call for the development of technologies that can mitigate this environmental burden. This study evaluated, from a lifecycle perspective, a new technology that can collect and recycle paper within the office. This technology can reduce by over 90% the amount of water used compared with the conventional recycled paper that is pulped and bleached once by the dry process. It also eliminates transportation from paper collection facilities to recycling factories, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This new technology is already in use in Japan, and analyses by user data indicate that evaluation results differ greatly depending on the utilization rate of the machine. In the future, environmental information should be shared by both users and manufacturers, so that users could increase their utilization rate, and manufacturers could develop alternative bonding agents in order to further reduce the total environmental burden.

ACS Style

Yuya Ono; Masaaki Hayashi; Koichiro Yokoyama; Takehiko Okamura; Norihiro Itsubo. Environmental Assessment of Innovative Paper Recycling Technology Using Product Lifecycle Perspectives. Resources 2020, 9, 23 .

AMA Style

Yuya Ono, Masaaki Hayashi, Koichiro Yokoyama, Takehiko Okamura, Norihiro Itsubo. Environmental Assessment of Innovative Paper Recycling Technology Using Product Lifecycle Perspectives. Resources. 2020; 9 (3):23.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yuya Ono; Masaaki Hayashi; Koichiro Yokoyama; Takehiko Okamura; Norihiro Itsubo. 2020. "Environmental Assessment of Innovative Paper Recycling Technology Using Product Lifecycle Perspectives." Resources 9, no. 3: 23.

Journal article
Published: 03 December 2019 in Sustainability
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In order to achieve target greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as those proposed by each country by nationally determined contributions (NDCs), GHG emission projections are receiving attention around the world. Generally, integrated assessment models (IAMs) are used to estimate future GHG emissions considering both economic structure and final energy consumption. However, these models usually do not consider the entire supply chain, because of differences in the aims of application. In contrast, life cycle assessment (LCA) considers the entire supply chain but does not cover future environmental impacts. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the national carbon footprint projection in Japan based on life cycle thinking and IAMs, using the advantages of each. A future input–output table was developed using the Asia-Pacific integrated model (AIM)/computable general equilibrium (CGE) model (Japan) developed by the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES). In this study, we collected the fundamental data using LCA databases and estimated future GHG emissions based on production-based and consumption-based approaches considering supply chains among industrial sectors. We targeted fiscal year (FY) 2030 because the Japanese government set a goal for GHG emissions in 2030 in its NDC report. Accordingly, we set three scenarios: FY2005 (business as usual (BAU)), FY2030 (BAU), and FY2030 (NDC). As a result, the carbon footprint (CFP) in FY2030 will be approximately 1097 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂eq), which is 28.5% lower than in FY2005. The main driver of this reduction is a shift in energy use, such as the introduction of renewable energy. According to the results, the CFP from the consumption side, fuel combustion in the use stage, transport and postal services, and electricity influence the total CFP, while results of the production side showed the CFP of the energy and material sectors, such as iron and steel and transport, will have an impact on the total CFP. Moreover, carbon productivity will gradually increase and FY2030 (NDC) carbon productivity will be higher than the other two cases.

ACS Style

Yuki Ichisugi; Toshihiko Masui; Selim Karkour; Norihiro Itsubo. Projection of National Carbon Footprint in Japan with Integration of LCA and IAMs. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6875 .

AMA Style

Yuki Ichisugi, Toshihiko Masui, Selim Karkour, Norihiro Itsubo. Projection of National Carbon Footprint in Japan with Integration of LCA and IAMs. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (23):6875.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yuki Ichisugi; Toshihiko Masui; Selim Karkour; Norihiro Itsubo. 2019. "Projection of National Carbon Footprint in Japan with Integration of LCA and IAMs." Sustainability 11, no. 23: 6875.

Journal article
Published: 26 July 2019 in Sustainability
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Governments at different levels need to appreciate the environmental impacts of socioeconomic activities within their boundaries. They also need to decide relevant environmental policies after carefully examining future pathways based on the relationship between the environment and the economy. This study focuses on Japanese basic administrative divisions (i.e., municipalities) and attempts to quantify the annual environmental efficiency of processes and socioeconomic activities within each of these divisions using life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) concepts. A key element of the LCIA is the integration of different environmental loads across various impact categories, such as global warming, air pollution, and land use, and their representation through a simple indicator. First, we conduct annual environmental impact assessments for all Japanese municipalities based on reliable, verifiable, and comparable statistical information. Next, we estimate the environmental efficiency of socioeconomic activities within each division by dividing the gross regional product (GRP) with the environmental damage amounts calculated through LIME2, an LCIA-based tool tailored for Japan. Assessment results for each municipality are visualized on maps of Japan in order to highlight the spatial distribution of the values for each indicator. The findings of this study can aid local, regional, and national governments in Japan to inform environmental policy design and decision-making at different spatial levels.

ACS Style

Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4045 .

AMA Style

Junya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (15):4045.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2019. "Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impacts and Gross Regional Product." Sustainability 11, no. 15: 4045.

Preprint
Published: 12 June 2019
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It is important for enterprises to decide their environmental policies after carefully examining their future paths based on the relationship between the environment and the economy. This study focused on Japanese minimum administrative divisions (municipalities) and attempted to quantify the annual environmental efficiency of production activities within each division according to the theory of life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA). This study leverages the assessment theory LIME2, which is an endpoint-type LCIA method developed in 2010 that integrates environmental loads for certain impact categories, such as global warming and land use into a simple indicator by monetary unit. First, annual environmental impact assessments were conducted for all Japanese municipalities based on statistical information that was reliable, verifiable, and comparable. Next, the environmental efficiency of productivity for each division was conceptualized by dividing the gross domestic product by the environmental damage amounts as calculated above. Assessment results for each municipality were placed on a map of Japan in order to visualize the regionality of each indicator. The findings revealed in this study will aid public administrators in their decision-making process with respect to environmental policies.

ACS Style

Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. Annual Nationwide Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impact and Gross Regional Product. 2019, 1 .

AMA Style

Junya Yamasaki, Toshiharu Ikaga, Norihiro Itsubo. Annual Nationwide Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impact and Gross Regional Product. . 2019; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Junya Yamasaki; Toshiharu Ikaga; Norihiro Itsubo. 2019. "Annual Nationwide Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Japanese Municipalities Based on Environmental Impact and Gross Regional Product." , no. : 1.

Development of global scale lcia method
Published: 13 November 2018 in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
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ACS Style

Atsushi Inaba; Norihiro Itsubo. Preface. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2018, 23, 2271 -2275.

AMA Style

Atsushi Inaba, Norihiro Itsubo. Preface. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 2018; 23 (12):2271-2275.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Atsushi Inaba; Norihiro Itsubo. 2018. "Preface." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 23, no. 12: 2271-2275.

Journal article
Published: 01 August 2017 in Sustainability
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Interest in the impacts of water use in the life cycle of products and services are increasing among various stakeholders. The water footprint is a tool to identify critical and effective points for reducing the impact of water use through the entire life cycle of products, services, and organizations. The purpose of this study was to develop a water consumption inventory database that focused on identifying of Asian water consumption using an input-output (IO) framework. An Asia International Input-Output table (AIIO) was applied in this study. The amount of water consumption required for agricultural products was estimated by modeling; for other sectors it was estimated from statistical reports. The intensities of direct water consumption in each sector were calculated by dividing the amount of water consumption by the domestic production. Based on the IO analysis using Leontief’s inverse matrix, the intensities of water consumption from cradle to gate were estimated for all goods and services. There was high intensity of water consumption in the primary industry sectors, together with a high dependency on rainwater as an input water source. The water consumption intensities generally showed a larger reduction in secondary sectors, in comparison with the tertiary sectors, due to the use of recycled water. There were differences between this study and previous studies due to the use of site-specific production data and the temporal resolution of crop production. By considering site-specific conditions, it is expected that the dataset developed here can be used for estimating the water footprint of products, services, and organizations in nine countries (Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and USA).

ACS Style

Yuya Ono; Young Deuk Kim; Norihiro Itsubo. A Country-Specific Water Consumption Inventory Considering International Trade in Asian Countries Using a Multi-Regional Input-Output Table. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1351 .

AMA Style

Yuya Ono, Young Deuk Kim, Norihiro Itsubo. A Country-Specific Water Consumption Inventory Considering International Trade in Asian Countries Using a Multi-Regional Input-Output Table. Sustainability. 2017; 9 (8):1351.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yuya Ono; Young Deuk Kim; Norihiro Itsubo. 2017. "A Country-Specific Water Consumption Inventory Considering International Trade in Asian Countries Using a Multi-Regional Input-Output Table." Sustainability 9, no. 8: 1351.

Journal article
Published: 01 July 2017 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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Seksan Papong; Chantima Rewlay-Ngoen; Norihiro Itsubo; Pomthong Malakul. Environmental life cycle assessment and social impacts of bioethanol production in Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production 2017, 157, 254 -266.

AMA Style

Seksan Papong, Chantima Rewlay-Ngoen, Norihiro Itsubo, Pomthong Malakul. Environmental life cycle assessment and social impacts of bioethanol production in Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2017; 157 ():254-266.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Seksan Papong; Chantima Rewlay-Ngoen; Norihiro Itsubo; Pomthong Malakul. 2017. "Environmental life cycle assessment and social impacts of bioethanol production in Thailand." Journal of Cleaner Production 157, no. : 254-266.

Journal article
Published: 04 November 2016 in Sustainability
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The social impacts of products and service life cycles are increasingly of interest among policy makers and stakeholders. Workers’ issues are considered to be a source of key inventory data to assess social impacts, and are crucial in moving towards social sustainability. There is a need to develop a social inventory database for evaluating social impacts of products and services. This study aimed at the development of a social intensity dataset using an input–output analysis framework. The 2005 Asian International input–output table is used in this work. Six social issues are considered: total employment, paid workers, vulnerable employment, wages, fatal, and non-fatal occupational injuries. To verify the acceptability of this study, an estimation of total social footprint deduced from final consumption rates was carried out. The social intensities associated with 10 countries and 76 economic sectors were constructed. The results show that the social intensities from cradle to gate the agricultural sector has the highest in terms of total employment and vulnerable employment. Meanwhile, the mining sector in China has a higher non-fatal and fatal occupational injuries than the agriculture sector, secondary sector, and tertiary sector. The public administration sector and the education and research sector had a higher wages intensity than any other sectors due to these sectors being labor intensive and having higher wages. The social intensity in terms of total employment, paid workers, vulnerable employment, non-fatal injuries, and fatal accident cases in the developing countries was higher than the developed countries whereas wages intensity in developing countries was lower than that of developed countries. The social footprints resulting from the final consumption of each country show that the social footprints had transferred from the developing countries to the developed countries. Exports from China to the USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have a significant social impact in these countries.

ACS Style

Seksan Papong; Norihiro Itsubo; Yuya Ono; Pomthong Malakul. Development of Social Intensity Database Using Asian International Input–Output Table for Social Life Cycle Assessment. Sustainability 2016, 8, 1135 .

AMA Style

Seksan Papong, Norihiro Itsubo, Yuya Ono, Pomthong Malakul. Development of Social Intensity Database Using Asian International Input–Output Table for Social Life Cycle Assessment. Sustainability. 2016; 8 (11):1135.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Seksan Papong; Norihiro Itsubo; Yuya Ono; Pomthong Malakul. 2016. "Development of Social Intensity Database Using Asian International Input–Output Table for Social Life Cycle Assessment." Sustainability 8, no. 11: 1135.

Journal article
Published: 20 April 2016 in Water
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We quantify the potential impacts of global food production on freshwater availability (water scarcity footprint; WSF) by applying the water unavailability factor (fwua) as a characterization factor and a global water resource model based on life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Each water source, including rainfall, surface water, and groundwater, has a distinct fwua that is estimated based on the renewability rate of each geographical water cycle. The aggregated consumptive water use level for food production (water footprint inventory; WI) was found to be 4344 km3/year, and the calculated global total WSF was 18,031 km3 H2Oeq/year, when considering the difference in water sources. According to the fwua concept, which is based on the land area required to obtain a unit volume of water from each source, the calculated annual impact can also be represented as 98.5 × 106 km2. This value implies that current agricultural activities requires a land area that is over six times larger than global total cropland. We also present the net import of the WI and WSF, highlighting the importance of quantitative assessments for utilizing global water resources to achieve sustainable water use globally.

ACS Style

Shinjiro Yano; Naota Hanasaki; Norihiro Itsubo; Taikan Oki. Potential Impacts of Food Production on Freshwater Availability Considering Water Sources. Water 2016, 8, 163 .

AMA Style

Shinjiro Yano, Naota Hanasaki, Norihiro Itsubo, Taikan Oki. Potential Impacts of Food Production on Freshwater Availability Considering Water Sources. Water. 2016; 8 (4):163.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Shinjiro Yano; Naota Hanasaki; Norihiro Itsubo; Taikan Oki. 2016. "Potential Impacts of Food Production on Freshwater Availability Considering Water Sources." Water 8, no. 4: 163.

Development of global scale lcia method
Published: 19 September 2015 in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
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Global warming is exerting a damaging effect on human health. This damage is not only influenced by future climate conditions but also projected economic development and population growth. That being said, there are no health damage factors related to CO2 emissions which take into account future socioeconomic scenarios in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Thus, the purpose of the current research is to calculate human health damage factors based on the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRESs) developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The procedure used to calculate the SRES-based damage factors is as follows. First, a framework was developed to calculate damage factors based on multiple parameters: rise in temperature, relative risk increase, mortality rate increase, rise in number of deaths, and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) increase. Secondly, these parameters were calculated for each individual SRES based on the relationship among the parameters and CO2 emissions, GDP, and population values of each scenario. Finally, the damage factor for each SRES was calculated by multiplying all the parameters that had been calculated based on the CO2 emission, GDP, and population data in the corresponding scenarios. Using this method, the human health damage factors for four SRESs (A1B, A2, B1, and B2) were calculated. The damage factors consisted of six different items: malaria, diarrhea, cardiovascular disease, malnutrition, coastal flooding, and inland flooding. The calculated results by scenario were 2.0 × 10−7, 6.2 × 10−7, 2.1 × 10−7, and 4.2 × 10−7 DALY/kg CO2, respectively. The damage caused by malnutrition is the greatest, followed by diarrhea. Regions of Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East showed the highest damages due to their high damage from malnutrition and diarrhea. With regard to the differences among the four damage factors, the difference between the projected future mortality rate and DALY per death based on the future GDP per capita is greater than the difference between the increases in temperature among scenarios dependent on future CO2 emission. The human health damage factors related to CO2 emissions for four SRESs were estimated. As a result of differences between future socioeconomic scenarios, the largest amount of damage per CO2 emission unit was three times greater than the smallest amount. Therefore, sensitive analysis is highly recommended when seeking to compare damage caused by global warming and other impact categories.

ACS Style

Longlong Tang; Ryouta Ii; Koji Tokimatsu; Norihiro Itsubo. Development of human health damage factors related to CO2 emissions by considering future socioeconomic scenarios. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2015, 23, 2288 -2299.

AMA Style

Longlong Tang, Ryouta Ii, Koji Tokimatsu, Norihiro Itsubo. Development of human health damage factors related to CO2 emissions by considering future socioeconomic scenarios. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 2015; 23 (12):2288-2299.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Longlong Tang; Ryouta Ii; Koji Tokimatsu; Norihiro Itsubo. 2015. "Development of human health damage factors related to CO2 emissions by considering future socioeconomic scenarios." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 23, no. 12: 2288-2299.