Calculator for external costs Finexpo
20126
From 2020 to 2021
TML, at the request of FPS Foreign Affairs, developed a tool for calculating environmental costs of freight transport to evaluate development aid projects, examining noise, air pollution, and climate change for different transport modes such as trucks, train, and aviation. The tool consists of two parts: trip definition and the calculation of emissions and external costs for specific transport cases.
The calculations of this calculator apply to seven major world regions: the European Union, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America. For some external costs, we also took into account the type of region. This is mostly related to the population density of that region. We distinguish metropolitan, ordinary urban, suburban, and rural areas and highways. For example, in metropolitan areas, more people will be affected by the noise of a truck or train than in rural areas.
To develop this tool, external costs were quantified for all relevant continents and regions and for all modes. The starting point was the existing external cost calculations at European and Flemish level, which were then converted to the other continents, for example by taking into account differences in average GDP.
The tool itself consists of two main pillars, namely trip definition (1) and emissions and costs (2):
- Trip definition includes the mode of transport used, world region, area type, and tonnage.
- Emissions and costs is the calculation of the volume (in kg) of emissions per leg.
