Toward the development of subnational hybrid input–output tables in a multiregional framework

Abstract

Environmental input-output analyses (EIOA) can be a useful decision support tool at the subnational level, due to its ability to capture economic and environmental impacts at other geographical levels. Yet, such analyses are hindered by the lack of subnational IO tables. Furthermore, the lack of physical product and waste flows in what is known as a "hybrid" table prevents a range of consumption-based and circular economy type analyses. We demonstrate the development of a multiregional hybrid IOT (MRHIOT) along with environmental extensions at the subnational level and exemplify it for the case of Belgium. The development procedure discloses a novel approach of combining national hybrid tables, subnational monetary tables, and physical survey-based data. Such a combination builds upon a partial-survey approach that includes a range of techniques for initial estimation and reconciliation within a balancing procedure. For the validation of the approaches, we assessed the magnitude of deviations between the initial and final estimates and analysed the uncertainties inherent to each initial estimation procedure. Subsequently, we conducted a consumption-based analysis where we assessed the carbon footprint (CF) at the subnational level and highlighted the CF inherent to the interregional linkages. This study provides methodological and application-based contributions to the discussion on the relevance of hybrid subnational tables and analyses compared to national ones. The proposed approach could be replicable to some extent for further developing subnational

Assessing the circularity of regions: Stakes of trade of waste for treatment

“…It is worth mentioning the MRHSUT at Belgian subnational level that we developed (Towa et al, 2020a) supported the analysis performed in this study. The MRHSUT integrate the respect of the material balance between inputs and outputs of the activities and the trade of waste data.…”

“…This section is dedicated to the application of the proposed indicators for the assessment of the degree of circularity of Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. To do so, we use the physical part of the MRHSUT we developed at the Belgian subnational level (Towa et al, 2020a). The developed MRHSUT are for 2011 and include the supply and use tables for each Belgian region expressed in mixed units: tons 2 , euro, and terajoules.…”

“…Last, it provides an analytical comparison between the former indicators (CI and CGI) and the proposed ones (TCCI and TCCGI). To achieve our objectives, we use the physical part of the multiregional hybrid supply and use table (MRHSUT) developed at the Belgian subnational level (Towa, Zeller, Merciai, Schmidt, & Achten, 2020a). They refer to the year 2011 and include the 3 Belgian regions, 42 countries, and 5 rest of world regions.…”

Price Variance in Hybrid-LCA Leads to Significant Uncertainty in Carbon Footprints

“…However, one aspect which current implementations all have in common, is their reliance on product-(or service-) price information to deal with unit conversion between the physical units of PLCA databases and the monetary units in IO tables. We note that although physical input-output models are being advocated and developed (Merciai and Schmidt, 2018;Bruckner et al, 2019;Towa et al, 2020), current physical models either do not offer a complete sectoral coverage (Bruckner et al, 2019) or rely on PLCA data to determine sectoral input structures (Merciai and Schmidt, 2018), making them unsuitable for a complete hybrid database covering global supply chains.…”

Who is Responsible for Embodied CO2?

“…Merging these two methods adopts the limitations and benefits of both. Refinement of hybrid EIO-LCA methods are exemplified on product and process level in the literature, and upscaling of this method to fit the needs of larger application is being investigated [15].…”