Transfer towards climate neutrality - from LCA to a business case

¹ German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), Buchholzweg 8, 13627 Berlin, Germany
² HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences, School of Engineering – Technology and Life, Wilhelminenhofstr. 75A, 12459 Berlin, Germany

^* Corresponding author: hans-juergen.garvens@uba.de

Abstract

Climate Change Mitigation is high on the agenda. It has been a scientific issues the last years, politics and industry have taken the challenge. Lots of funding and grants are available, engineers are looking into their toolboxes finding some old and many new solutions. We are right at the very start of another industrial revolution – the transfer towards climate neutrality. In the early stages of development many data are still lacking, so LCA might assist to some extent, but not as good as assessing mature industrial processes.

On examples of green steel, synthetic fuels and other carbon capture and utilization (CCU) applications we learned that renewable electricity is the key issue to all decarbonisation or defossilisation projects. No future material processes can greenhouse gas (GHG)-efficiently produce without sufficient build-up of renewable energy capacities including transportation capacities of that energy. The fast build-up of wind and solar power is even more important, than any material or energy carrier process development.

In Life Cycle Assessments assisting the transfer, we should not account for green electricity certificates, if they are bought. Only if new capacities were built up for new electricity demands, decarbonization can be achieved.