Harmonising and UPgrading GREENhouse gas removal (GGR) consequential Life Cycle Assessment (UP-green-LCA)

"GGR topic-specific" project proposal. To achieve the UK targets for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a steady reduction of 3% should be achieved and maintained every year by the whole UK economy. This is the requirement for UK in order to achieve the potential target of 1.5 degrees C of global warming. Different techniques (e.g. land management and use change, ocean fertilisation, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, biochar, direct air capture) have been proposed to remove GHG; but their implementation can have large and unforeseen effects considering all the impacts across the economy. Some techniques such as afforestation, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage could potentially have large land use change and affect the food chains.
Methodological approaches, such life cycle assessment (LCA), have been widely adopted to assess different greenhouse gas removal techniques (GGRT). LCA allows to account for all the impacts from raw material extraction, production, transport, use and waste disposal of a production systems, product or service. In particular consequential LCA approaches have been used to assess the consequences of the various applications of greenhouse gas removal techniques. However consequential LCA is largely based on assumptions and large uncertainties are bound to this approach. Further there is no consensus on the LCA methodology to assess GGRT, let alone the results, and a fair comparison of the efficacy and cost of the different GGRT is required to have an accurate assessment of the benefits of GGRT.
This research proposal is an attempt in reducing the lack of consistency and increase accuracy and robustness of the impacts of alternative GGRT. The main aim of this project is to harmonise the various LCA approaches to assess GGRT, including biochar application, biomass carbon storage, land management change, ocean fertilisation and direct air capture. The project also aims to systematically test and assess the uncertainties related to the application of the consequential LCA to GGRT to improve consequential LCA approaches for greenhouse gas removal. The new approaches are compared with other consortia and research projects targeted to greenhouse gas removal techniques and will be used in a consequential LCA of specific case studies for each greenhouse gas removal group.
The methodology adopted consists in a systematic review across economic sectors and focuses on the specific methods of analysing consequential impacts and uncertainties in the analyses (e.g. assumptions about economic responses). Selected case studies will be used to test the current approaches to identify and rank the importance of the various sources of uncertainties (and other strengths and weaknesses) related to consequential LCA. This will be combined with a series of workshops with other researchers and key advisers involved in assessing GGRT to harmonise the developed approaches. The advisors will form an advisory panel and will represent areas of the economy, policy and third sector organisations that would be affected by large scale implementation of GGRT. This will feed into an upgrading process of current consequential LCA methods with the aim of making the assessment of GGRT more robust and more accurate to achieve a real and substantial reduction of global warming (at least 1-10 Gt of CO2eq per year worldwide).

The UP-Green-LCA project will impact different audiences and stakeholders both nationally and internationally. The UP-Green-LCA will include synergies between the economic, climate change and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) research communities, impact on greenhouse gas and LCA emission research community, impact on wider UK public, UK government and parliament, the training of new researchers. The synergies between the various research communities will be achieved by a series of workshops of an advisory panel composed of social and policy scientists and stakeholders. The synergies will be also achieved through setting up a project website and 2 workshops with other project and consortia leaders involved with greenhouse gas removal announcement of opportunity. The workshops will be held within Cranfield facilities keeping the cost to a minimum.
The project will also have impact on the climate change and LCA scientific community. The project partners will participate to at least 2 conferences on LCA scientific communities and 2 on climate change by presenting posters and oral communications. Several papers (including a review paper, a LCA paper and a discussion paper) will be published on high impact factor journals (e.g. Nature communications, Nature climate change, Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment). These planned activities will insure impact on the climate change and LCA research community.
This project will have impact on the LCA and climate research community through participation in LCA and climate change conferences. Instead the impact on the wider public is guaranteed by a website section for press releases, a video which will be hosted on YouTube, the project website and participation in British Science Week. Supported by the Cranfield University (CU) marketing, press and social media teams the applicants will promote key developments and research outcomes of the project by means of CU press releases and social media posts such as on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. At least one update will be posted every month. These activities will be carried out to ensure proper and consistent engagement with the wider public. The project will have an impact on the UK government through the engagement with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Commission on Climate Change (CCC) and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) by inviting them to the workshops. A policy briefing will be also prepared to inform the UK parliament in the last year of the programme on the social and political drivers affecting the introduction of greenhouse gas techniques worldwide. This will be carried out through a collaboration with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.