Impacts on fuel producers and customers of conflicting rules for LCA

Authors
Poulikidou, Sofia; Rydberg, Tomas; Wikström, Anna; Ekvall, Tomas; Nojpanya, Pavinee; Jogner, Carolina; Ekman Nilsson, Anna; Davis, Jennifer; Brandão, Miguel; Nilsson, Johan

Abstract
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 assessment and modelling requirements. Fuel producers may get multiple requests for LCAs to be used in various contexts. This may require the application of different methodological approaches that may vary in scope, system boundaries, data demands and more. This results in increased cost and competence requirements for fuel producers as well as confusion among actors including their customers. Differences in methodologies might also lead to various outcome, conclusions and conflicting guidance regarding what fuel to prioritize or develop. In this project we have studied different methodological choices and their implications from three different frameworks (RED, PEF and EPD) when applied in case studies on selected fuel production pathways (ethanol from corn, fatty acid methyl ester, biogas from food waste, HVO from used cooking oil, advanced ethanol from food waste and sawmill residues and pyrolysis oil from used tires). In this presentation we provide insights, lessons learned and results from the project. These include model and method specific observations in relation to system boundaries or accounting practices and their associated impact on the final outcome as well as more generic conclusions on how much additional work is required for applying the multiple frameworks. We also discuss how additional demands can be reduced, and present an analysis of to what extent the frameworks methodological aspects can lead to diverging results and conflicting recommendations which can be obstacles towards the international harmonization of the LCA methodology. Several fuel producers are actively involved in the project as well as LCA-researchers from different organizations.