The Significance of Scope 3 GHG Emissions in Construction Projects in Korea: Using EIA and LCA

In Korea, a greenhouse gas (GHG) environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been conducting since 2012, which sets the evaluation procedures and methods for GHG items during the EIA. However, the current EIA on GHG emissions can support wrong decision-making because the evaluation does not consider Scope 3 GHG emissions. Accordingly, this study proposed the life cycle EIA (LCEIA) method to identify changes in GHG emissions that need to be managed by considering Scope 3 GHG emissions in construction projects. The LCEIA method incorporates life cycle CO₂ (LCCO₂) including Scope 1, Scope, and Scope 3 GHG emissions using the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA) into the scoping step of the EIA process. The case study was conducted using existing EIA on GHG emission and LCEIA methodology for a development project in Gwangyang City. Scenario 1 is defined as an approach that calculates GHG emissions using the existing EIA method, and scenario 2 is also defined as a process using the LCEIA method. Results reveal that Scenario 2, including Scope 3 GHG emissions, had 46.4−51.2% more GHG emissions than Scenario 1. Sensitivity analysis for electricity and liquefied natural gas (LNG) density was also performed. Although the change in the carbon emission factor of electricity had a slightly sensitive effect on the research results, the LNG density was found to be less sensitive. This study believes the importance of switching to an EIA reflecting life cycle carbon dioxide (LCCO₂) to calculate the exact amount of GHG emissions for construction work. View Full-Text