Effects of Using Heterogeneous Prices on the Allocation of Impacts from Electricity Use: A Mixed‐Unit Input‐Output Approach

Economic input‐output life cycle assessment (IO‐LCA) models allow for quick estimation of economy‐wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with goods and services. IO‐LCA models are usually built using economic accounts and differ from most process‐based models in their use of economic transactions, rather than physical flows, as the drivers of supply‐chain GHG emissions. GHG emissions estimates associated with input supply chains are influenced by the price paid by consumers when the relative prices between individual consumers are different. We investigate the significance of the allocation of GHG emissions based on monetary versus physical units by carrying out a case study of the U.S. electricity sector. We create parallel monetary and mixed‐unit IO‐LCA models using the 2007 Benchmark Accounts of the U.S. economy and sector specific prices for different end users of electricity. This approach is well suited for electricity generation because electricity consumption contributes a significant share of emissions for most processes, and the range of prices paid by electricity consumers allows us to explore the effects of price on allocation of emissions. We find that, in general, monetary input‐output models assign fewer emissions per kilowatt to electricity used by industrial sectors than to electricity used by households and service sectors, attributable to the relatively higher prices paid by households and service sectors. This fact introduces a challenging question of what is the best basis for allocating the emissions from electricity generation given the different uses of electricity by consumers and the wide variability of electricity pricing.     

Towards a triple bottom-line sustainability assessment of the U.S. construction industry

Purpose

The construction industry has considerable impacts on the environment, economy, and society. Although quantifying and analyzing the sustainability implications of the built environment is of great importance, it has not been studied sufficiently. Therefore, the overarching goal of this study is to quantify the overall environmental, economic, and social impacts of the U.S. construction sectors using an economic input–output-based sustainability assessment framework.

Methods

In this research, the commodity-by-industry supply and use tables published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, as part of the International System of National Accounts, are merged with a range of environmental, economic, and social metrics to develop a comprehensive sustainability assessment framework for the U.S. construction industry. After determining these sustainability assessment metrics, the direct and indirect sustainability impacts of U.S construction sectors have been analyzed from a triple bottom-line perspective.

Results

When analyzing the total sustainability impacts by each construction sector, “Residential Permanent Single and Multi-Family Structures" and "Other Non-residential Structures" are found to have the highest environmental, economic, and social impacts in comparison with other construction sectors. The analysis results also show that indirect suppliers of construction sectors have the largest sustainability impacts compared with on-site activities. For example, for all U.S. construction sectors, on-site construction processes are found to be responsible for less than 5 % of total water consumption, whereas about 95 % of total water use can be attributed to indirect suppliers. In addition, Scope 3 emissions are responsible for the highest carbon emissions compared with Scopes 1 and 2. Therefore, using narrowly defined system boundaries by ignoring supply chain-related impacts can result in underestimation of triple bottom-line sustainability impacts of the U.S. construction industry.

Conclusions

Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies that consider all dimensions of sustainability impacts of civil infrastructures are still limited, and the current research is an important attempt to analyze the triple bottom-line sustainability impacts of the U.S. construction sectors in a holistic way. We believe that this comprehensive sustainability assessment model will complement previous LCA studies on resource consumption of U.S. construction sectors by evaluating them not only from environmental standpoint, but also from economic and social perspectives.     

Trends and scenarios of the carbon budget in postagricultural Puerto Rico (1936–2060)

Contrary to the general trend in the tropics, Puerto Rico underwent a process of agriculture abandonment during the second half of the 20th century as a consequence of socioeconomic changes toward urbanization and industrialization. Using data on land‐use change, biomass accumulation in secondary forests, and ratios between gross domestic product (GDP) and carbon emissions, we developed a model of the carbon budget for Puerto Rico between 1936 and 2060. As a consequence of land abandonment, forests have expanded rapidly since 1950, achieving the highest sequestration rates between 1980 and 1990. Regardless of future scenarios of demography and land use, sequestration rates will decrease in the future because biomass accumulation decreases with forest age and there is little agricultural land remaining to be abandoned. Due to high per‐capita consumption and population density, carbon emissions of Puerto Rico have increased dramatically and exceeded carbon sequestration during the second half of the 20th century. Although Puerto Rico had the highest percent of reforestation for a tropical country, emissions during the period 1950–2000 were approximately 3.5 times higher than sequestration, and current annual emission is almost nine times the rate of sequestration. Additionally, while sequestration will decrease over the next six decades, current socioeconomic trends suggest increasing emissions unless there are significant changes in energy technology or consumption patterns. In conclusion, socioeconomic changes leading to urbanization and industrialization in tropical countries may promote high rates of carbon sequestration during the decades following land abandonment. Initial high rates of carbon sequestration can balance emissions of developing countries with low emission/GDP ratio. In Puerto Rico, the socioeconomic changes that promoted reforestation also promoted high‐energy consumption, and resulted in a net increase in carbon emissions.     

低碳经济计量模式

首先对"低碳经济"进行了讨论,进而提出了"碳循环经济"概念;对现有碳计量进行研究,提出了相应改进计算公式:碳绩效和碳经济密度。最后,对碳责任分担进行了探讨,提出了发达国家和发展中国家"责任共担、区别对待"的碳责任担负的计算模式。     

Evaluating the carbon footprint of the cork sector with a dynamic approach including biogenic carbon flows

Purpose

The aim of the present study is to assess the influence of two different attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches, namely static LCA (sLCA) and dynamic LCA (dLCA), through their application to the calculation of the carbon footprint (CF) of the entire cork sector in Portugal. The effect of including biogenic carbon sequestration and emissions is considered as well.

Methods

sLCA is often described as a static tool since all the emissions are accounted for as if occurring at the same time which may not be the case in reality for greenhouse gases. In contrast, dLCA aims to evaluate the impact of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions on radiative forcing considering the specific moment when these emissions occur.

Results and discussion

The results show that the total CF of the cork sector differs depending on the approach and time horizon chosen. However, the greater it is the time horizon chosen, the smaller the difference between the CF results of the two approaches. Additionally, the inclusion of biogenic carbon sequestration and emissions also influences significantly the CF result. The cork sector is considered a net carbon source when biogenic carbon is excluded from the calculations and a net carbon sink when biogenic carbon is included in the calculations since more carbon is sequestered than emitted along the sector.

Conclusions

dLCA allows an overview of greenhouse gas emissions along the time. This is an advantage as it allows to identify and plan different management approaches for the cork sector. Even though dLCA is a more realistic approach, it is a more time-consuming and complex approach for long life cycles. The choice of time horizon was found to be another important aspect for CF assessment.

     

Uncertainties in the 20th century carbon budget associated with land use change

Uncertainties in the 20th century carbon budget associated with the treatment of land use change (LUC) are assessed using the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma) first‐generation Earth System Model (CanESM1). Eight coupled climate carbon cycle simulations are performed using different reconstructions of 1850–2000 land cover derived from historical information on changes in cropland and pasture area. The simulations provide estimates of the emissions associated with LUC, the relative contribution of changes in cropland and pasture to LUC emissions and the uncertainty associated with differences among historical data sets of crop area as well as in the manner in which the historical land cover data are constructed. The resulting estimates of the amount of biomass deforested over the 1850–2000 period range from 63 to 145 Pg C with cumulative implied LUC emissions ranging from 40 to 77 Pg C. These values of LUC emissions are considerably lower than Houghton's estimate of 156 Pg C. The year 2000 atmospheric CO₂ concentration ranges between 371.1 ± 3.7 ppm depending on the data set used and the manner in which historical land cover is constructed. This compares to the observed value of 369.6 ppm at Mauna Loa and is 17.3 ± 6.3 ppm larger than for simulations without LUC. Although increases in cropland result in the expected increase in LUC emissions, changes in pasture area decrease these emissions because of carbon sequestration in soils.     

Approaches for inclusion of forest carbon cycle in life cycle assessment – a review

Forests are a significant pool of terrestrial carbon. A key feature related to forest biomass harvesting and use is the typical time difference between carbon release into and sequestration from the atmosphere. Traditionally, the use of sustainably grown biomass has been considered as carbon neutral in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. However, various approaches to account for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sinks of forest biomass acquisition and use have also been developed and applied, resulting in different conclusions on climate impacts of forest products. The aim of this study is to summarize, clarify, and assess the suitability of these approaches for LCA. A literature review is carried out, and the results are analyzed through an assessment framework. The different approaches are reviewed through their approach to the definition of reference land‐use situation, consideration of time frame and timing of carbon emissions and sequestration, substitution credits, and indicators applied to measure climate impacts. On the basis of the review, it is concluded that, to account for GHG emissions and the related climate impacts objectively, biomass carbon stored in the products and the timing of sinks and emissions should be taken into account in LCA. The reference situation for forest land use has to be defined appropriately, describing the development in the absence of the studied system. We suggest the use of some climate impact indicator that takes the timing of the emissions and sinks into consideration and enables the use of different time frames. If substitution credits are considered, they need to be transparently presented in the results. Instead of carbon stock values taken from the literature, the use of dynamic forest models is recommended.     

城市碳代谢过程研究进展

碳代谢过程分析是城市代谢研究的重要环节,而通过土地利用/覆盖的空间调整优化城市碳代谢过程已成为区域可持续发展的关键。利用城市代谢思想,本文综述了城市碳代谢过程核算、碳代谢网络模拟、碳代谢过程与土地利用/覆盖变化关系分析、碳代谢空间格局演替等方面的内容,并指出了当前研究中存在着空间属性表达缺乏、核算/模拟结果较难直接应用于实践调控、自然和社会经济代谢过程难以并重考虑等问题。在此基础上,提出了此领域未来发展预期:(1)基于土地流转,将碳排放/碳吸收垂向流映射到碳存量变化的水平流,以"存量"变化推导出网络"流量"分布,实现节点、流互动关系的空间表达,构建时空维度碳代谢网络模型;(2)强调自然节点在城市碳代谢网络中的重要作用,形成社会经济节点与自然节点并重的生态网络模型,有效服务于城市规划及设计。     

A Carbon Footprint of High‐Speed Railways in China: A Case Study of the Beijing‐Shanghai Line

A carbon footprint (CF) assessment of Chinese high‐speed railways (HSRs) can help guide further development of the world's longest HSR network. In this research, a hybrid economic input‐output and life cycle assessment (EIO‐LCA) method was applied to estimate the CF of the Beijing‐Shanghai HSR line. Specific CFs were analyzed of different subsystems of the line, different stages of production, and three calculation scopes. Results showed that the annual CF of the Beijing‐Shanghai HSR is increasing, whereas the per‐passenger CF constantly declined between 2011 and 2014. Scope 1 emissions account for an average of 4% of the total annual CF, Scope 2 contribute 71%, and Scope 3 comprise 25%. Among the different stages, operation contributes the largest (71%), followed by construction (20%) and maintenance (9%). In the construction stage, the bridges have the largest CF, followed by trains, and then rails. A trade‐off exists between the increase in carbon emissions due to construction of bridges and the reduction in operation emissions affected by leveling changes in terrain. The Beijing‐Shanghai HSR line has a relatively higher per‐passenger CF than eight other HSR lines, which is largely due to China's coal‐based carbon‐intensive energy mix of electricity generation, high proportion of bridges, higher operating speed, and heavier train body. In the future, cleaner electricity supply options, more efficient raw material production, and improvement of trains are keys to reducing the CF of Chinese HSRs.     

土地利用变化对区域碳源汇的影响研究进展

土地利用变化对陆地生态系统碳循环有着重要的影响,既可能成为碳源,也可能是碳汇。在国内外相关研究的基础上,综述了土地利用变化对全球及区域尺度上森林、草地和农业生态系统碳循环的影响。全球范围内,森林砍伐后向草地和农田的转化发挥碳源的作用,在毁林碳排放中占主导地位,其中热带地区森林转变为农田和草场的碳排放均高于温带和北方森林。另一方面,土地利用变化可促进森林的碳贮存,如退耕还林、改善森林管理等。各区域森林生态系统通过土地利用变化贮存碳的潜力存在显著差别,热带湿润和半湿润地区具有较大的碳汇潜力,而干旱地区减少碳排放的空间相对较少。开垦活动是影响草地生态系统碳储存最主要的人类活动,草地转变为农田伴随着土壤碳的流失。森林或草场转变为农田的过程伴随着植被和土壤碳储量的减少,生态系统碳储量降低,因此它是一个碳排放的过程。伴随着城市的扩张,农田向建设用地的转化也是一个碳排放的过程。当前评估土地利用变化影响的研究方法主要有遥感观测和遥感模型、统计估算、生态系统模型以及土地利用与生态系统模型的耦合。研究方法得到不断地完善和改进的同时,还存在着一些不确定性,因此需要建立统一的观测统计方法,降低数据中的不确定性;完善土地利用与生态系统模型的耦合研究;建立多尺度土地利用变化及生态系统综合技术方法体系;开展碳减排目标下土地利用最优化布局研究。     

Soil carbon sequestration and biochar as negative emission technologies

Despite 20 years of effort to curb emissions, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions grew faster during the 2000s than in the 1990s, which presents a major challenge for meeting the international goal of limiting warming to <2 °C relative to the preindustrial era. Most recent scenarios from integrated assessment models require large‐scale deployment of negative emissions technologies (NETs) to reach the 2 °C target. A recent analysis of NETs, including direct air capture, enhanced weathering, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage and afforestation/deforestation, showed that all NETs have significant limits to implementation, including economic cost, energy requirements, land use, and water use. In this paper, I assess the potential for negative emissions from soil carbon sequestration and biochar addition to land, and also the potential global impacts on land use, water, nutrients, albedo, energy and cost. Results indicate that soil carbon sequestration and biochar have useful negative emission potential (each 0.7 GtCeq. yr^?1) and that they potentially have lower impact on land, water use, nutrients, albedo, energy requirement and cost, so have fewer disadvantages than many NETs. Limitations of soil carbon sequestration as a NET centre around issues of sink saturation and reversibility. Biochar could be implemented in combination with bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Current integrated assessment models do not represent soil carbon sequestration or biochar. Given the negative emission potential of SCS and biochar and their potential advantages compared to other NETs, efforts should be made to include these options within IAMs, so that their potential can be explored further in comparison with other NETs for climate stabilization.     

基于固碳服务供需视角的河南省碳平衡研究

土地利用变化影响陆地系统碳循环过程。在实现碳中和目标的背景下,分析区域碳平衡,优化土地利用结构具有现实意义。以河南省为例,以1 km网格为单元,应用InVEST碳固存模块、IPCC碳排放核算、人口密度法等方法,研究1995、2005、2015年区域碳平衡的时空变化。结果表明,研究区固碳服务的供需量与土地利用类型密切相关。固碳服务的供需在空间存在错配关系,即需求高的地区通常具有较低的供给。研究时段内,研究区的总碳固量逐年下降,总碳排放量逐年增加,研究区碳平衡表现为整体向好,局部恶化的情况。在碳平衡分析的基础上提出了空间优化利用建议,可为未来国土空间规划碳平衡目标的实现提供参考。     

Life cycle analysis of biochemical cellulosic ethanol under multiple scenarios

Cellulosic ethanol is widely believed to offer substantial environmental advantages over petroleum fuels and grain‐based ethanol, particularly in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. The environmental impacts of biofuels are largely caused by precombustion activities, feedstock production and conversion facility operations. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is required to understand these impacts. This article describes a field‐to‐blending terminal LCA of cellulosic ethanol produced by biochemical conversion (hydrolysis and fermentation) using corn stover or switchgrass as feedstock. This LCA develops unique models for most elements of the biofuel production process and assigns environmental impact to different phases of production. More than 30 scenarios are evaluated, reflecting a range of feedstock, technology and scale options for near‐term and future facilities. Cellulosic ethanol, as modeled here, has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to petroleum‐based liquid transportation fuels, though substantial uncertainty exists. Most of the conservative scenarios estimate GHG emissions of approximately 45–60 g carbon dioxide equivalent per MJ of delivered fuel (g CO₂e MJ^?1) without credit for coproducts, and 20–30 g CO₂e MJ^?1 when coproducts are considered. Under most scenarios, feedstock production, grinding and transport dominate the total GHG footprint. The most optimistic scenarios include sequestration of carbon in soil and have GHG emissions below zero g CO₂e MJ^?1, while the most pessimistic have life‐cycle GHG emissions higher than petroleum gasoline. Soil carbon changes are the greatest source of uncertainty, dominating all other sources of GHG emissions at the upper bound of their uncertainty. Many LCAs of biofuels are narrowly constrained to GHG emissions and energy; however, these narrow assessments may miss important environmental impacts. To ensure a more holistic assessment of environmental performance, a complete life cycle inventory, with over 1100 tracked material and energy flows for each scenario is provided in the online supplementary material for this article.     

Spatial and temporal dynamics of methane emissions from agricultural sources in China

Agricultural activities contribute significantly to the global methane budget. Agricultural sources of methane are influenced by land‐use change, including changes in agricultural area, livestock keeping and agricultural management practices. A spatially explicit inventory of methane emissions from agriculture is made for China taking the interconnections between the different agricultural sources into account. The influence of land‐use change on methane emissions is studied by linking a dynamic land‐use change model with emission calculations. The land‐use change model calculates changes in rice area and livestock numbers for a base‐line scenario. Emissions are calculated for 1991 based on land‐use statistics and for 2010 based on simulated changes in land‐use patterns. Emissions from enteric fermentation and manure management are based on emission factors, while emissions from rice paddies involve the calculation of total organic carbon added to rice paddy soils and assume that a constant fraction is emitted as methane. Spatial patterns of emissions are presented for the different sources. For the land‐use scenario considered it is expected that total methane emissions from agricultural sources in China increase by 11% while the relative contribution of rice fields to the emission decreases. Emissions from manure management are expected to become more important. These results indicate that agencies should anticipate changes in source strengths as a consequence of land‐use changes when proposing mitigation strategies and future national greenhouse gas budgets.     

Economic and ecological views on climate change mitigation with bioenergy and negative emissions

Climate stabilization scenarios emphasize the importance of land‐based mitigation to achieve ambitious mitigation goals. The stabilization scenarios informing the recent IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report suggest that bioenergy could contribute anywhere between 10 and 245 EJ to climate change mitigation in 2100. High deployment of bioenergy with low life cycle GHG emissions would enable ambitious climate stabilization futures and reduce demands on other sectors and options. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) would even enable so‐called negative emissions, possibly in the order of magnitude of 50% of today's annual gross emissions. Here, I discuss key assumptions that differ between economic and ecological perspectives. I find that high future yield assumptions, plausible in stabilization scenarios, look less realistic when evaluated in biophysical metrics. Yield assumptions also determine the magnitude of counterfactual land carbon stock development and partially determine the potential of BECCS. High fertilizer input required for high yields would likely hasten ecosystem degradation. I conclude that land‐based mitigation strategies remain highly speculative; a constant iteration between synoptic integrated assessment models and more particularistic and fine‐grained approaches is a crucial precondition for capturing complex dynamics and biophysical constraints that are essential for comprehensive assessments.     

Net carbon flux from agriculture: Carbon emissions, carbon sequestration, crop yield, and land-use change

There is a potential to sequester carbon in soil by changing agricultural management practices. These changes in agricultural management can also result in changes in fossil-fuel use, agricultural inputs, and the carbon emissions associated with fossil fuels and other inputs. Management practices that alter crop yields and land productivity can affect the amount of land used for crop production with further significant implications for both emissions and sequestration potential. Data from a 20-year agricultural experiment were used to analyze carbon sequestration, carbon emissions, crop yield, and land-use change and to estimate the impact that carbon sequestration strategies might have on the net flux of carbon to the atmosphere. Results indicate that if changes in management result in decreased crop yields, the net carbon flux can be greater under the new system, assuming that crop demand remains the same and additional lands are brought into production. Conversely, if increasing crop yields lead to land abandonment, the overall carbon savings from changes in management will be greater than when soil carbon sequestration alone is considered.     

Post‐Soviet farmland abandonment,forest recovery,and carbon sequestration in western Ukraine

Land use is a critical factor in the global carbon cycle, but land‐use effects on carbon fluxes are poorly understood in many regions. One such region is Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, where land‐use intensity decreased substantially after the collapse of socialism, and farmland abandonment and forest expansion have been widespread. Our goal was to examine how land‐use trends affected net carbon fluxes in western Ukraine (57 000 km²) and to assess the region's future carbon sequestration potential. Using satellite‐based forest disturbance and farmland abandonment rates from 1988 to 2007, historic forest resource statistics, and a carbon bookkeeping model, we reconstructed carbon fluxes from land use in the 20th century and assessed potential future carbon fluxes until 2100 for a range of forest expansion and logging scenarios. Our results suggested that the low‐point in forest cover occurred in the 1920s. Forest expansion between 1930 and 1970 turned the region from a carbon source to a sink, despite intensive logging during socialism. The collapse of the Soviet Union created a vast, but currently largely untapped carbon sequestration potential (up to～150 Tg C in our study region). Future forest expansion will likely maintain or even increase the region's current sink strength of 1.48 Tg C yr^?1. This may offer substantial opportunities for offsetting industrial carbon emissions and for rural development in regions with otherwise diminishing income opportunities. Throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, millions of hectares of farmland were abandoned after the collapse of socialism; thus similar reforestation opportunities may exist in other parts of this region.     

Biogenic Carbon and Temporary Storage Addressed with Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment

A growing tendency in policy making and carbon footprint estimation gives value to temporary carbon storage in biomass products or to delayed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some life cycle‐based methods, such as the British publicly available specification (PAS) 2050 or the recently published European Commission's International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook, address this issue. This article shows the importance of consistent consideration of biogenic carbon and timing of GHG emissions in life cycle assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint analysis. We use a fictitious case study assessing the life cycle of a wooden chair for four end‐of‐life scenarios to compare different approaches: traditional LCA with and without consideration of biogenic carbon, the PAS 2050 and ILCD Handbook methods, and a dynamic LCA approach. Reliable results require accounting for the timing of every GHG emission, including biogenic carbon flows, as soon as a benefit is given for temporarily storing carbon or delaying GHG emissions. The conclusions of a comparative LCA can change depending on the time horizon chosen for the analysis. The dynamic LCA approach allows for a consistent assessment of the impact, through time, of all GHG emissions (positive) and sequestration (negative). The dynamic LCA is also a valuable approach for decision makers who have to understand the sensitivity of the conclusions to the chosen time horizon.     

Assessing the influence of historic net and gross land changes on the carbon fluxes of Europe

Legacy effects of land cover/use on carbon fluxes require considering both present and past land cover/use change dynamics. To assess past land use dynamics, model‐based reconstructions of historic land cover/use are needed. Most historic reconstructions consider only the net area difference between two time steps (net changes) instead of accounting for all area gains and losses (gross changes). Studies about the impact of gross and net land change accounting methods on the carbon balance are still lacking. In this study, we assessed historic changes in carbon in soils for five land cover/use types and of carbon in above‐ground biomass of forests. The assessment focused on Europe for the period 1950 to 2010 with decadal time steps at 1‐km spatial resolution using a bookkeeping approach. To assess the implications of gross land change data, we also used net land changes for comparison. Main contributors to carbon sequestration between 1950 and 2010 were afforestation and cropland abandonment leading to 14.6 PgC sequestered carbon (of which 7.6 PgC was in forest biomass). Sequestration was highest for old‐growth forest areas. A sequestration dip was reached during the 1970s due to changes in forest management practices. Main contributors to carbon emissions were deforestation (1.7 PgC) and stable cropland areas on peaty soils (0.8 PgC). In total, net fluxes summed up to 203 TgC yr^?1 (98 TgC yr^?1 in forest biomass and 105 TgC yr^?1 in soils). For areas that were subject to land changes in both reconstructions (35% of total area), the differences in carbon fluxes were about 68%. Overall for Europe the difference between accounting for either gross or net land changes led to 7% difference (up to 11% per decade) in carbon fluxes with systematically higher fluxes for gross land change data.     

Exploring the Use of Ecological Footprint in Life Cycle Impact Assessment

Ecological footprint (EF) is a metric that estimates human consumption of biological resources and products, along with generation of waste greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in terms of appropriated productive land. There is an opportunity to better characterize land occupation and effects on the carbon cycle in life cycle assessment (LCA) models using EF concepts. Both LCA and EF may benefit from the merging of approaches commonly used separately by practitioners of these two methods. However, few studies have compared or integrated EF with LCA. The focus of this research was to explore methods for improving the characterization of land occupation within LCA by considering the EF method, either as a complementary tool or impact assessment method. Biofuels provide an interesting subject for application of EF in the LCA context because two of the most important issues surrounding biofuels are land occupation (changes, availability, and so on) and GHG balances, two of the impacts that EF is able to capture. We apply EF to existing fuel LCA land occupation and emissions data and project EF for future scenarios for U.S. transportation fuels. We find that LCA studies can benefit from lessons learned in EF about appropriately modeling productive land occupation and facilitating clear communication of meaningful results, but find limitations to the EF in the LCA context that demand refinement and recommend that EF always be used along with other indicators and metrics in product‐level assessments.