Abstract

Svenska kraftnät is the transmission system operator in Sweden, their responsibility includes renewing and expanding the existing transmission system to keep up with the rising demand for electricity. With the ongoing climate crisis there is a need to be as sustainable as possible during the process of expanding the transmission system. One way to do this is to use a sustainability assessment tool for the construction projects. CEEQUAL is an international sustainability assessment tool that can be used for infrastructure and construction projects. It is a point based, third party assessment that is based on nine different categories covering environmental and social sustainability. The aim of this project is to estimate what CEEQUAL score the projects of Svenska kraftnät could achieve based on its current sustainability work. The aim also includes to determine what actions needs to be taken to improve that score, together with a cost analysis and market research of the experiences from other CEEQUAL users.

Based on the current level of sustainability in Svenska krafnäts projects the CEEQUAL score reaches 44 percent, which equals the CEEQUAL level Pass. To improve to the level Good, there needs to be clearer goals for a project sustainability and a business model for a circular economy among other things, these are seen as specific to the operation, not the projects. For a higher score, reaching the level Very Good, there needs to be a life cycle analysis for new construction projects and better CO2-emission calculations.
The cost of a CEEQUAL assessment is difficult to determine. The cost for the verification and an assessor has been calculated to be anywhere between 570 000 kr and 5 500 000 kr. Market research shows that using CEEQUAL is beneficial to improve a projects sustainability and creates a common goal for the team members. A downside to using CEEQUAL is the administrative work it demands as well as the bureaucracy.

All in all, using CEEQUAL in all Svenska kraftnäts construction project could not be seen as beneficial, but assessing just one project can determine how the sustainability can be improved in all projects. It would be beneficial to create a decision report tool for projects that help teams make sustainable choices for the projects. This would preferably be done together with distribution system operators in Sweden and transmission system operators in neighbouring countries for a tool adapted to their operations and aspirations.