Klimatpåverkan i tidig planering av kraftledningar : Ett verktyg för klimatbedömning av kraftledningsprojekt

The increasing demand for sustainable energy infrastructure due to trends in both international and national policy but also the electrification of society has put pressure on project developers to minimize material-related emissions. This thesis presents the development and evaluation of a climate assessment tool built specifically for early-stage power line planning. The thesis was conducted in collaboration with Sweco Sverige AB and addresses the lack of accessible, sector-specific tools for transmission infrastructurerelated climate assessments. The tool was built in Microsoft Excel using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and integrates emission factors from Trafikverket’s climate calculation framework with detailed weight and material data for poles, foundations, conductors and shield wires. It allows users to model different voltage levels and project configurations to calculate the CO2- equivalent emissions associated with different project scenarios. The results showed that conductors dominate the total emissions overall, while wood poles offered lower emissions compared to composite or steel poles at lower voltages. The tool enables fast scenario comparisons, provides emission data to support sustainable decisionmaking and allows for early alignment with both Sweden’s and the EU’s climate goals. The current version focuses on material-based emissions and does not yet incorporate transportation, installation or operational emissions. Future development will expand these capabilities and evolve the tool towards a full multi-criteria decision-support framework. This thesis demonstrates the potential of embedding emissions accounting tools into everyday engineering workflows, closing the gap between theoretical life cycle assessment methods and real-world infrastructure planning.