Life cycle assessment in early planning of transport systems : Decision support at project and network levels

The Swedish Climate Policy Framework implies that the Swedish transport sector must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to nearly zero by 2045. Previous studies have – using life cycle assessment – shown that indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicle and infrastructure life cycle are significant and should be considered in transport policy and planning of transport systems, in addition to direct emissions of vehicle operation. The aim of this thesis is to contribute with knowledge on climate impact and primary energy use of transport systems for decision-support in early planning at project and network levels, and evaluate and demonstrate how life cycle climate impact and primary energy use can be assessed in early planning. This thesis includes three papers that contribute to achieving this aim. Paper I developed a methodological approach to assess annual climate impact and primary energy use of Swedish road, rail, air, and sea transport infrastructure at a network level. Paper II then expanded this system to the assessment of the Swedish transport system at a network level, including national and international freight and passenger transport by road, rail, air, and sea. At the project level, Paper III examined how LCA can be used as decision-support in choice of road corridor, considering the practical prerequisite of data availability in early planning and usefulness of results in the decision-making process. Paper I showed that the annual climate impact of Swedish transport infrastructure is around 3 million tonnes CO2 equivalents and that the annual primary energy use is around 27 TWh. Road infrastructure accounted for the largest proportion of impacts – around 70% of the climate impact and around 80% of the energy use. Paper II showed that the annual climate impact of the Swedish transport system was around 44 million tonnes CO2 equivalents and the primary energy use was around 178 TWh. Road transport and aviation together accounted for 90% of the climate impact and primary energy use. Indirect impacts were significant, especially for road and rail transport, accounting for 30% of the total climate impact and primary energy use. Paper III found that (1) collection of project specific data should focus on parameters that differentiate the road corridors, that can be influenced in early planning, and that are not directly related to the road length and (2) life cycle assessment based models used in early planning should include nation specific generic data approved by the national road authority. QC 20181128