Transportation
V1.0
Last updated
V1.0
Last updated
Riverse SAS
This is a Transformation Module and covers the transport of goods throughout the project life cycle. This module is part of the Riverse BiCRS methodology, which allows Project Developers to choose the relevant modules for their project, and shall be used with the necessary accompanying modules.
This is a Transformation Module and covers the upstream and downstream transportation throughout the project lifecycle. This module is part of the Riverse BiCRS methodology, which allows Project Developers to choose the relevant modules for their project, and shall be used with the necessary accompanying modules.
See more details on how modules are organized in the BiCRS home page.
This module covers transportation steps throughout the project life cycle and over several modes of transportation.
Transportation steps covered include feedstock transportation to the processing site, product transportation to the permanent storage site, and others.
Modes of transportation currently include road transport. Other modes will be included in future versions of this module and may be proposed by Project Developers on a case-by-case basis.
There are no eligibility criteria requirements specific to this module. Eligibility criteria requirements shall be taken from the accompanying modules and methodologies:
The GHG reduction quantification instructions from all other modules used by the project must be used in conjunction with the present module in order to obtain full life-cycle GHG reduction quantifications.
This module covers the life cycle GHG emissions from all transportation of feedstock and transportation of carbon storage solutions by road and sea.
Two main life cycle stages are considered:
Energy use emissions
Embedded Transport Emissions
There are three options for modeling energy use emissions:
Fuel-amount method: based on the type and amounts of fuel used and measured for each transport segment. This method is more precise but the required data are more difficult to obtain.
Fuel-efficiency method: based on the fuel efficiency (e.g. liters diesel/km) of transport units and type of fuel used for each transport segment, plus the distance traveled, to calculate the amount of fuel used.
Distance-based method: based on the mass of goods transported, distance traveled, and generic transportation emission factors for shipping by road or water.
The distance-based method requires more assumptions than the other two methods, and assumptions are always conservative. It is in the project’s best interest to provide directly measured fuel amounts for outbound and return journeys, to avoid applying conservative assumptions, although this data is more difficult to obtain than distances and load weight.
The required primary data for GHG reduction calculations from projects are presented in Table 1 and vary depending on the method chosen (fuel or distance-based).
Data shall be reported from Project Developers for each and then converted to the abovementioned functional unit upon annual verification.
Table 1 Summary of primary data needed from projects and their source. One asterisk (*) indicates which data are required to be updated annually during verification (see Monitoring Plan section). Two asterisks (**) indicate which data are optional, where a conservative default choice will be applied.
Return trip/following transport segments
Note that data on the transport unit's next trip after the transport segment is optional (see Table 1).
If the transport unit is loaded for its following transport segment (e.g. back to point A, onward to a new point C...), the emissions from the following transport segments are excluded from the project's GHG emissions calculation. The emissions are instead assigned to the client responsible for the goods transported during the return trip.
If the transport unit is empty for its following transport segment, the emissions for that segment shall be included in the project's GHG emissions calculations. Project Developers may either provide the actual fuel consumption of the following trip, or fuel consumption of the first trip will be assumed. This is a conservative assumption, because an empty vehicle would likely have improved fuel consumption efficiency.
If Project Developers do not know or cannot prove the next transport step after the project’s transport segment, it shall be assumed that the truck returns empty to point A. The emissions from the empty return trip are included in that project transport segment.
The version 3.10 (hereafter referred to as ecoinvent) shall be the main source of emission factors unless otherwise specified. Ecoinvent is preferred because it is traceable, reliable, and well-recognized. The ecoinvent processes selected are detailed in the Appendix 1.
Secondary data is used for the fuel combustion emission factor and is presented in Table 2 below.
After analyzing the impacts of four different truck categories, the emissions for medium truck transport are averaged across two truck sizes: 7.5-16 tons and 16-32 tons.
If proof about the following transport segment (e.g. B back to A, or B onwards to C) cannot be provided, it is assumed that the transport unit returns empty with the same GHG emissions as the initial transport segment.
In the Distance-based method, transport unit emissions from the ecoinvent database are used, where the emission factor includes emissions from an empty return trip (i.e. a load factor of 0%). The average load factors for the outbound journey assumed in the emission factor are detailed in Table 2 for truck transport and Table 3 for ship transport.
Embedded emissions from road transport include upstream emissions from truck manufacturing, road construction, and ongoing maintenance. For ship transport, embedded emissions cover at least the emissions associated with the ship itself, its maintenance, and the port facilities.
Table 2 Summary of outbound journey average load factor per truck category. Calculated based on ecoinvent assumptions.
Table 3 Summary of outbound journey average load factor per ship category, from ecoinvent.
The three options to model energy use emissions from transport are detailed below.
This method accounts for emissions from:
upstream energy production and processing
direct GHG emissions from combustion (if fuel is the energy source rather than electricity)
Emissions for upstream energy production and processing shall be taken from ecoinvent. Options of energy types are presented in Appendix 1.
If an electric vehicle charging station is directly connected to a renewable energy source (e.g., solar), emissions from fuel consumption are determined using data from ecoinvent 3.10, as detailed in Appendix 1. Otherwise, emissions based on the regional grid mix will be applied.
The shall be taken from Table 4. Project Developers may suggest emission factors for other fuel types not included here if they:
are based on reputable, transparent sources
are geographically accurate for the project's context
are approved by the VVB and the Riverse Certification team.
Project Developers may declare a mix of fuels used (e.g. mostly diesel with a fraction of bioethanol). Default country-specific values shall be used for the ratio of diesel to biofuel (see Appendix 2), unless Project Developers provide proof of a different ratio.
Table 4 Direct GHG emissions from combustion for several fuel types, relevant for a European context.
The amount of energy used can be calculated by Project Developers using the distance traveled, and the fuel consumption efficiency of the vehicle. Then, the description and equations from the Energy Amount Method section apply.
When details about the total energy consumption or vehicle energy efficiency are unavailable, GHG emissions from transport shall be modeled using
default ecoinvent emission factors,
the weight of the product i transported through the segment s, in tonnes, and
the distance traveled.
Embedded transport emissions include GHG emissions from upstream production and maintenance.
Embedded emissions are calculated using default emission factors from ecoinvent.
Tthe amount of embedded emissions allocated to the project is based on the amount of energy used or mass times distance traveled, depending on the project’s data availability.
For road transport, project developers shall select one of the following truck category sizes:
Light category: includes trucks with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of less than 7.5 tonnes. In the ecoinvent database, this category encompasses lorry size classes of 3.5-7.5 tonnes
Medium category: includes trucks with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of more than 7.5 tonnes and less than 32 tonnes. In the ecoinvent database, this category encompasses lorry size classes of 7.5-16 tonnes and 16-32 tonnes. The average values from these two truck sizes are used.
Heavy category: includes trucks with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of more than 32 tonnes. In the ecoinvent database, this category encompasses lorry size class >32t.
For sea transport, project developers shall select one of the following ship categories. If another category is used, this should be reported to the Riverse climate team.
Ferry: typically used on short to medium distances.
Container ship: large, ocean-going vessel used to transport cargo in standardized containers, known as TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units).
Bulk carrier for dry goods: specifically designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ores, cement, and other dry commodities
Tanker for liquid goods other than petroleum and liquefied natural gas: designed to transport bulk liquid cargoes other than petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
See general instructions for uncertainty assessment in the Riverse Standard Rules. The outcome of the assessment shall be used to determine the percent of avoided emissions to eliminate with the .
The uncertainty of assumptions presented in the Assumptions section are assessed below:
Averaging truck sizes: this has low uncertainty since analyses showed that the emission profiles for the two medium truck sizes in ecoinvent were similar.
Empty returns: this has high uncertainty but the most conservative approach is taken in the quantifications.
Using the default ecoinvent load factor: this has high uncertainty, because in ecoinvent, it is assumed that all vehicles are not full. This load factor affects several aspects of the GHG emissions from road transport, and a project's load factor may be higher or lower.
Embedded transport emissions: this has low to medium uncertainty as the transport unit and road maintenance is the most impactful embedded emissions processes.
The equations have no uncertainty since they are basic conversions.
Direct GHG emissions from combustion are used as secondary data and have moderate uncertainty. These values are not expected to vary significantly within the European fuel mix.
The uncertainty at the module level is estimated to be moderate. This translates to an expected discount factor of at least 6% for projects that have significant GHG impacts from transport.
Monitoring Plans for this module shall include, but are not limited to, tracking of the following information for each production batch:
Transport unit category used per segment
Transport unit's next step after the transport segment
Amount of fuel and fuel production geography per transport segment
Fuel type per transport segment
Number of trips per transport segment
Monitoring Plans for this module shall include, but are not limited to, tracking of the following information for each calendar year:
Number of transport segments of each type completed
The Project Developer is the party responsible for adhering to the Monitoring Plan.
The table below presents a non-exhaustive selection of Ecoinvent activities that may be used in the GHG reduction calculations for this module. Additional activities may be used for any project, if the following selection does not cover all relevant activities.
Table A1 List of ecoinvent 3.10 processes used in the GHG reduction quantification model, all processes are from the cutoff database
*If the solar plant is directly connected to the fuel station, emissions are assumed to be zero.
Table A2 National biofuel policies in Europe per country from - Diesel blend.
Biofuel blends from other countries can be utilized if they come from reliable sources. If data for a specific European country is unavailable, the standard European blend may be used as a fallback. In this scenario, it is conservatively estimated that crop-based biofuels make up of the diesel composition.
| Parameter | Unit | Source proof examples |
|---|---|---|
| Parameter | Unit | Source proof examples |
|---|---|---|
| Parameter | Unit | Source proof examples |
|---|---|---|
| Truck category | Outbound journey average load factor (%) |
|---|---|
| Truck category | Outbound journey average load factor (%) |
|---|---|
consider at least CO, N,O and CH, emissions
| Fuel | CO2 | N2O | CH4 | kgCO2eq/kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
represent the sum of GHG emissions resulting from the energy consumption involved in transporting material (input or output material) in kgCOeq during the segment . Each transport segment shall be reported separately and includes the fuel upstream emissions () and fuel direct emissions ().
represent the sum of GHG emissions resulting from upstream fuel emissions, in kgCOeq.
represent the sum of GHG emissions resulting from the fuel combustion, in kgCOeq.
represents the quantity of fuel (kg, liters or m³) or electricity (kWh) used to transport the material i throughout the segment s.
is the upstream emission factor for the considered fuel used during transport in the segment s. Units vary depending on the unity of fuel quantity. e.g. in kgCOeq/kWh or kgCOeq/kg. Refer to Appendix 1 for some of the ecoinvent processes that can be considered, depending on the fuel/electricity type and mix.
represents the number of trips throughout segment s during the analyzed period. This variable can be used if the fuel amount reported is the average amount of fuel consumed.
represents the emission rate of gas g for the combustion of the fuel type used in the transport segment s. Options are presented in paragraph 3.4.1 below.
represents the GWP of gas g considered, presented in Table 2 below. This parameter shall be accounted for gas type g (CO, NO and CH).
F represents the percentage of fossil fuel in the fuel mix, which should be based on the country's fuel blend as detailed in Appendix 2. For example, if the diesel blend consists of 93% diesel and 7% biodiesel, then the emission of 100% mineral diesel (from Table 3) should be multiplied by , which in this case would be 93%.
represents the quantity of fuel (kg, liters or m³) or electricity (kWh) used to transport the material throughout the segment .
represents the distance traveled in the transport section to transport the material , in km.
represents the fuel consumption efficiency of the vehicle used in transport section , in kg/km or kWh/km.
is explained in Eq.2.
After calculating the theoretical amount of energy consumed, , is used in Equation 2 from the Calculations - Energy amount method section instead of directly measured energy amounts, and Equations 1-3 are used.
represents the sum of GHG emissions due to the transport of material in kgCOeq during the reference period.
represents the distance traveled in the transport section to transport the material , in km.
represents the weight of the product i transported through the segment during the verification period, in tonnes.
represents the default emission factor of the transport unit (truck or ship) in kgCOeq/t.km for transport category c (light, medium or heavy). Based on ecoinvent database, this emission factor considers at least CO , NO and CH direct emissions and fuel upstream emissions until its supply. The ecoinvent processes used for this are presented in Appendix 1.
is explained in Eq.2.
represents the total project embodied emissions from transport, in kgCOeq.
is explained in Eq. 1 and represents the quantity of fuel (kg) or electricity (kWh) used to transport the material i throughout the segment s. Each transport segment shall be accounted for separately.
is the emission factor for transport embodied emissions in kgCOeq/kg fuel.
Fuel efficiency may be used to calculate the amount of fuel consumption as presented in Eq. 4. After that, shall be used Eq. 6 to calculate total embodied emissions from transport.