RT Journal Article
T1 Estimation of CO2 emissions in the life cycle of roads through the disruption and restoration of environmental systems
A1 Barandica, Jesús M.
A1 Delgado Sáez, Juan Antonio
A1 Berzosa, Álvaro
A1 Fernández Sánchez, Gonzalo
A1 Serrano Talavera, José Manuel
A1 Martín Zorrila, Juan Vicente
AB Effects of disruption and restoration of terrestrial ecosystems have been largely overlooked when conducting assessments of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inroadconstructionprojects. This is animportant oversight given the intensive land-conversion generated by linear infrastructure development, as well as the relevance given to carbon pool variations associated with land use and land-use changes by national inventories of GHG emissions and global reports. This paper describes the implementation of a methodology to classify those environmental systems in land-uses categories, to determine their carbon stocks (vegetationandsoil), andto quantifyCO2 emissions andremoval relatedto theirmanagement atthedifferent stages of road construction projects. The procedure is illustrated through its application in the impact assessment of road projects in the territory of Spain. This methodology integrates currently available information on carbon stocks and considers the accounting criteria adopted in national GHG emissions inventories. It is intended to constitute part of an integral assessment tool for GHG emissions in linear infrastructure projects. Four case studies are presented in which emissions from the disruption of environmental systems range from 0.55 to 3.66 kT CO2 km−1. This represents 5 to 13% of the total emissions in the construction stage, and 3.5 to 7% of the net CO2 balance, i.e., once the initial carbon sequestration by restoration planting has been discounted. Results also indicate that under ideal conditions the long-term effect of restoration may even fully offset this impact, though really such conditions are far from being the case in the usual development of plantations. This study confirms the advisability of systematically incorporating the analysis of land use and land-use changes into the assessment of GHG emissions of road projects for consideration in decision-making from the design stage to the maintenance stage in such projects.
PB Elsevier
SN 0925-8574
YR 2014
FD 2014-08-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/35640
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/35640
LA eng
NO Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI, España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 30 abr 2024