A master thesis from Aalborg University
Environmental Assessment of GHG Emission Impacts - a study of current practice and potentials for including life cycle thinking
Term
4. Term
Publication year
2022
Submitted on
2022-06-01
Pages
129 pages
Abstract
Recent research has emphasised that there is a need for more systematic and thorough assessments of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in environmental assessments. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore potentials for improving the Danish practice of assessing GHG emissions in environmental assessments by applying life cycle thinking (LCT). Firstly, this entails looking at how GHG emissions are assessed i current Danish EA practice. A text analysis of 102 EA reports revealed that several shortcomings exist in this regard, including a prevalent use of insufficient references in determining significance, and a lack of inclusion of life cycle phases. Due to its capabilities, e.g. systems perspectives, hotspot analysis, and so on, this thesis supports application of LCT and Life cycle assessment (LCA). Based on a survey with EA practitioners, it can be deduced that the knowledge and experience regarding LCA application may be a challenge. This is also apparent from existing EA reports, as very few include LCT in the assessments. In order to demonstrate how the assessment of GHG emissions can benefit from LCT, the approach is applied to two existing EIA reports. Based on the results of this experiment, LCT can contribute with a systems perspective thereby reducing the risk of overlooking relevant activities in the assessment. Furthermore, it can contribute to more well-founded assessments, thus supporting more accurate significance determinations. However, it is clear that LCT is not a stand-alone solution to improving significance determination, and therefore it is recommended that threshold values for GHG emissions should be established. Finally, the thesis includes a discussion which seeks to explore the institutional setting of GHG emission assessment practice. It is concluded that elements within the pillars contribute to both restraining current practice, and to driving practice forward.
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