Impacts on producers and customers of conflicting rules for LCA (ICON)

Type

Research project

Time period 2020-06-15 - 2021-12-31

Fuel producers are increasingly affected by conflicting rules for life cycle assessment (LCA). The EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED), the EU framework for Product Environmental Footprints (PEF), and the frameworks of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) all have different requirements on the calculations. The methods for LCA affect the results and sometimes the conclusions. Different frameworks for LCA can generate conflicting recommendations on how to improve the fuel life cycle, which poses a challenge to all producers. The multiple LCA frameworks can also give conflicting guidance regarding what fuel to use.

In this project the three frameworks mentioned above will be applied in case studies on selected real fuels. The project estimates the additional work required for applying multiple frameworks, discusses how it can be reduced, and analyzes the extent to which they generate conflicting conclusions. This generates awareness on the requirements and implications of the different frameworks, makes their application more efficient, and prepares the Swedish sector for active participation in the future development of the frameworks and other international harmonization of the LCA methodology.

Outcomes

The project results has been presented in a webinar held on 14th December 2021. A recording of the webinar can be found below.

The final project report was published in May 2022 together with an executive summary. Project results has also been presented at LCM2021 (poster presentation) and will be presented in June 2022 at Transportforum 2022. Reports, abstracts and posters are linked below.

Transportforum