AICA - AI-powered Carbon Border Adjustments

Purpose and goal

The purpose of this project is to enable stringent policy mechanisms to avoid carbon leakage between countries and thereby support the implementation of the Paris agreement. The research aim is to assess whether and how AI can support effective and legitimate Carbon Border Adjustments. We focus on how it applies to products assembled and produced in Sweden and EU in manufacturing and heavy industry with focus on metals (steal itself stands for approximately 10 % of global CO2 emissions) together with our partners Alfa Laval and Toyota Material Handling.

Expected results and effects

The outcomes of this project contribute to enable climate tariffs and other policy decisions regarding climate performance on products. AI-Powered Carbon Border Adjustments thus have the potential for a fundamental impact on business transformations toward decarbonization. The provision of product specific AI-generated LCAs have the ability to nudge companies, consumers and public buyers to select low emission products, even without a price set on carbon emissions. Another beneficial use of the AI is to verify LCAs provided by the suppliers in the value chain.

Planned approach and implementation

The project activities are organized in 5 work packages. Lead partners, as well as allocated time and budget are indicated for each work package. We will set up a project management team, consisting of a representative from each partner organization that will meet regularly to ensure that all five work packages interact and enrich the final result. We will also set up an external reference group as mentioned in the application. The project start is set to October 2021 and finishes October 2024