Node

Towards A Low-Carbon & Circular Economy

Node Leaders

Paul Dargusch

Research Hub Deputy Director; Node Leader - Towards a Low-Carbon & Circular Economy

Monash University

Opportunity

Integrated development of product-level and system-level carbon footprint methods can generate internally consistent assessments that support the multiple users of such information – environmental product declarations (EPDs) for manufacturers and building clients; accounting metrics to support investment in forestry; and system-wide hotspot analysis for policy makers and corporates wishing to prioritise environmental improvements. Coupling this with manufacturing (Node – Manufacturing Innovation), construction (Node – Value-Chain Innovation) and operational performance (Node – Timber Building Performance for Occupants) assessments can deliver an unprecedented quality of insights on the greenhouse-gas (GHG) mitigation benefits of novel EWPs. Australian methodological innovations in multi-region input-output (MRIO) analysis [1] provide a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between environmental and socio-economic analysis (Node – Socio-Economic Opportunity), also providing a framework for demonstrating the implications of changes in pursuit of a more circular economy.

Approach

Assess and incorporate data on materials and energy use over multiple product-specific supply chains, identifying the sensitivity of carbon footprint and materials flow distributions to data uncertainties, assumptions on waste management / reduction and recovery practices, and development of comprehensive greenhouse gases & life cycle assessment metrics and methodological choices. Identify systems-level hotspots and develop long-term scenarios analysis using physical inventories, multi-regional input output modeling and hybrid approaches, characterising the strengths and weaknesses of different analytical frameworks.

Outcomes

Metrics, models and datasets that support future industry assessment of how best to couple timber systems innovation  with  decarbonisation,  waste  management  and  economic  dematerialisation  benefits.  Demonstrated implications of using different metric alternatives for Australia’s official carbon accounting and carbon pricing schemes. Product- and system-level GHG emission inventories would underpin carbon pricing analysis of Node – Socio-Economic Opportunity, and inform design of building (Nodes – Timber Building Performance for Occupants and Design for Extended Building Life) and manufacturing (Nodes – Manufacturing Innovation and Value-Chain Innovation) systems.


People

Fabiano Ximenes

Theme Leader - Transformative Benefits; Partner Investigator

NSW Department of Primary Industries

Joe Gattas

Theme Leader - Innovative Solutions; Node Leader - Manufacturing Innovation & Value-Chain Innovation

The University of Queensland

Robert Crawford

Project Leader; Chief Investigator

University of Melbourne

Project/s

New ‘green’ methods to support forest and wood products advocacy in the built environment

The development of strategies to have the carbon savings and broader environmental benefits of growing forests and using timber in the built environment appropriately recognised

References

  1. Lenzen M, Geschke A, Wiedmann T, et al (2014) Compiling and using input–output frameworks through collaborative virtual laboratories. Science of The Total Environment 485–486:241–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.03.062