Ecological assessment of different types of transport

© Yehuda / adobestock.com

There is great demand for ecological comparisons of different types of transport in the environmental policy debate and these comparisons are used for a wide range of purposes. However, both the available input data and methodology for analysis are no longer sufficient for many current questions. The aim of this study was therefore to update and expand existing data for the ecological assessment of domestic passenger and freight transport. This update included all life cycle stages (use phase as well as energy, vehicle and infrastructure supply) for key impact categories (GHG emissions, air pollution, cumulative energy demand, cumulative raw material demand, traffic areas). In addition to these classic impact indicators, noise pollution, traffic accidents and external costs were also included in the transport type comparison.

The analysis of environmental impacts explored a number of different scenarios and included status quo or average observations as well as dynamic effects of changes in transport with the resulting implications for the overall system. During the project, a methodology for ecological assessments at the various levels of interest was developed and applied for a number of different scenarios.