Proving the eligibility of cargo handling systems for alignment with climate change mitigation objective of EU Taxonomy Regulation
Pant, Aroma (2021)
Diplomityö
Pant, Aroma
2021
School of Energy Systems, Energiatekniikka
Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021101150553
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021101150553
Tiivistelmä
Decarbonization of the transportation sector is integral for greenhouse gas emission reduction but the production of electric vehicles leads to environmental burden during product manufacturing based on different studies. Therefore, it is important to base the assumption of electric vehicles being environmentally sustainable based on best available science. This thesis provides an evaluation of the climate change mitigation potential of electrified cargo handling equipments compared to the similar-sized fossil fuel based conventional equipments assembled by Cargotec in terms of criteria set in the EU Taxonomy Regulation. The regulation is developed as part of the EU Green Deal which was established as a landmark to Paris Climate Agreement. Equipments studied in this thesis are terminal tractor, straddle carrier, and loader crane.
The equipment studied in this thesis falls under the economic activity, manufacturing of other low carbon technologies in the EU Taxonomy Regulation which enables potentially to greenhouse gases emission reduction in other sectors of economy. Based on the technical screening criteria requirement for climate change mitigation by other low carbon technologies in the EU Taxonomy Regulation, life cycle metric has been used to assess the climate change mitigation potential of the studied electric and hybrid cargo handling equipments compared to the conventional equipments during unit lifetime. For setting the rationale on what is substantial for climate change mitigation, the result was analyzed in terms of the absolute emission reduction target aligned with Science-Based Targets initiative. As other metrics are indicated for evaluating the Do No Significant Harm and compliance to the minimum safeguard, these criteria are discussed qualitatively as part of the technical screening criteria in the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
The overall result for the studied electric cargo handling equipments is consistent with the hypothesis that the electric equipment has significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than fossil-based equipment and the studied cargo handling equipments align with the Paris Climate Agreements’1.5℃ ambition pathway based on the Science-Based Targets. However, the hybrid equipment studied in the thesis do not align with the Paris Climate Agreements’ 1.5℃ ambition pathway but can be considered substantially contributing to climate change mitigation objective in the EU Taxonomy Regulation due to its technical and economic feasibility consideration. In addition, all the studied equipment are expected to comply with the Do No Significant Harm and the minimum social safeguard thus the equipments are expected to verify as having substantial contribution to the climate change mitigation objective in the EU Taxonomy Regulation. However, a third-party verification is required further to validate the results.
There are no research studies for evaluation of climate change mitigation potential of cargo handling equipment in terms of the EU Taxonomy Regulation therefore, this research shall be used as a baseline for conducting life cycle studies of cargo handling equipment as well as verification of the climate change mitigation objective in terms of the criteria in the EU Taxonomy Regulation for future studies.
The equipment studied in this thesis falls under the economic activity, manufacturing of other low carbon technologies in the EU Taxonomy Regulation which enables potentially to greenhouse gases emission reduction in other sectors of economy. Based on the technical screening criteria requirement for climate change mitigation by other low carbon technologies in the EU Taxonomy Regulation, life cycle metric has been used to assess the climate change mitigation potential of the studied electric and hybrid cargo handling equipments compared to the conventional equipments during unit lifetime. For setting the rationale on what is substantial for climate change mitigation, the result was analyzed in terms of the absolute emission reduction target aligned with Science-Based Targets initiative. As other metrics are indicated for evaluating the Do No Significant Harm and compliance to the minimum safeguard, these criteria are discussed qualitatively as part of the technical screening criteria in the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
The overall result for the studied electric cargo handling equipments is consistent with the hypothesis that the electric equipment has significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than fossil-based equipment and the studied cargo handling equipments align with the Paris Climate Agreements’1.5℃ ambition pathway based on the Science-Based Targets. However, the hybrid equipment studied in the thesis do not align with the Paris Climate Agreements’ 1.5℃ ambition pathway but can be considered substantially contributing to climate change mitigation objective in the EU Taxonomy Regulation due to its technical and economic feasibility consideration. In addition, all the studied equipment are expected to comply with the Do No Significant Harm and the minimum social safeguard thus the equipments are expected to verify as having substantial contribution to the climate change mitigation objective in the EU Taxonomy Regulation. However, a third-party verification is required further to validate the results.
There are no research studies for evaluation of climate change mitigation potential of cargo handling equipment in terms of the EU Taxonomy Regulation therefore, this research shall be used as a baseline for conducting life cycle studies of cargo handling equipment as well as verification of the climate change mitigation objective in terms of the criteria in the EU Taxonomy Regulation for future studies.