Life cycle externalities versus external costs: the case of inland freight transport in Belgium

Merchan Arribas, Angel; Léonard, Angélique; Limbourg, Sabine; Mostert, Martine

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2019.01.017

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Life cycle externalities versus external costs: the case of inland freight transport in Belgium

Merchan Arribas, Angel; Léonard, Angélique; Limbourg, Sabine et al.

2019 • In Transportation Research. Part D, Transport and Environment, 67, p. 576-595

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/231763

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10.1016/j.trd.2019.01.017

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Keywords :

Inland freight transport; Life Cycle Assessment; Externalitties; External costs; Belgium

Abstract :

[en] This paper proposes a case study on Belgium in which externalities and external costs of inland freight transport modes in Belgium are compared for the year 2012. The well-known Life Cycle Assessment methodology is used to identify the updated specific Belgian externalities related to three categories of negative impacts: climate change, photochemical ozone formation and particulate matter formation. The obtained values of externalities are then compared to the related external cost values. The objective is to determine if these two tools can be used interchangeably. We find that road transport has the maximum impact for every environmental impact indicator, with rail freight transport presenting the minimum one. We identify that each category of negative impact on the environment does not represent the same percentage of global externalities and external costs. In the analysis of the environmental impact per mode, it is observed that, when external costs are considered instead of externalities, the impact of road transport is slightly increased compared to both impacts of rail and inland waterways. Using externalities and average external costs interchangeably for estimating the impact of specific transport categories on the environment may thus lead to different results and different related policies.

Research Center/Unit :

Chemical engineering - ULiège
Centre for Quantitative Methods and Operations Management (QuantOM)
Department of Architecture, Geology, Environment and Construction, LEMA Group,

Disciplines :

Special economic topics (health, labor, transportation...)
Chemical engineering
Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

Merchan Arribas, Angel ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Department of Chemical Engineering > PEPs (Product, Environment, Processes)

Léonard, Angélique ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Department of Chemical Engineering > PEPs (Product, Environment, Processes)

Limbourg, Sabine ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Opérations : Logistique

Mostert, Martine ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Opérations : Logistique

Language :

English

Title :

Life cycle externalities versus external costs: the case of inland freight transport in Belgium

Publication date :

February 2019

Journal title :

Transportation Research. Part D, Transport and Environment

ISSN :

1361-9209

eISSN :

1879-2340

Publisher :

Elsevier, United Kingdom

Volume :

Pages :

576-595

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Name of the research project :

Brain-Trains - TRanversal Assessment of Intermodal New Strategies

Funders :

BELSPO - Service Public Fédéral de Programmation Politique scientifique

Available on ORBi :

since 17 January 2019

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