ICM Database

Emission factors are calculated using a Hybrid Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Hybrid LCA combines the process-level specificity of traditional LCA with the economy-wide comprehensiveness of Input-Output Analysis (IOA). Several approaches to this combination exist; in all cases, specific data on individual processes are connected with data from an input-output model (Wiedmann, 2010). The approach used for this database is integrated hybrid LCA, in which a monetary input-output table is connected to a physical process matrix (Suh, 2004; Wiedmann, 2010). The different types of hybrid LCA are described in detail in Crawford et al. (2018). Two main data sources are hybridised: process data from the Australian National Life Cycle Inventory Database, and input-output data from an Australian national Supply-and-Use Table (SUT). The integration of these datasets and the underlying calculations are described in detail in Yu and Wiedmann (2018) and Yu et al. (2020).

References

Crawford, R. H., Bontinck, P.-A., Stephan, A., Wiedmann, T., Yu, M. (2018). Hybrid life cycle inventory methods — a review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, 1273–1288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.176

Suh, S. (2004). Functions, commodities and environmental impacts in an ecological–economic model. Ecological Economics, 48(4), 451–467.

Wiedmann, T. (2010). Frequently asked questions about input-output analysis. Centre for Sustainability Accounting (CENSA).

Yu, M., Wiedmann, T. (2018). Implementing hybrid LCA routines in an input–output virtual laboratory. Journal of Economic Structures, 7(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40008-018-0131-1

Yu, M., Robati, M., Oldfield, P., Wiedmann, T., Crawford, R., Nezhad, A. A., Carmichael, D. (2020). The impact of value engineering on embodied greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment: A hybrid life cycle assessment. Building and Environment, 168, 106452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.106452