Machinery enables the production of goods and societal development but contributes notably to en vironmental impacts, which are often neglected in environmental assessments. This meta-analysis identified 86 Life Cycle Assessment studies of industry-specific machinery and analyzed the life cycle climate impacts of 39 machinery technologies from 10 different categories. Relevant parameters such as mass, lifetime, and intensity of operation were analyzed to find their influence on the overall im pacts. Climate impacts varied widely, cradle-to-grave emissions ranged from 1,790 t CO2e/unit for Lift ing and Handling Equipment to 89.2 t CO2e/unit for Additive Manufacturing Machinery. Machinery for Mining, Quarrying and Construction consistently demonstrated larger climate impacts per unit, year, and operating hour, while Other Special-Purpose Machinery was found to be most relevant per kilo gram of mass. This work provided a consistent overview of machinery’s varied climate impacts, offer ing a foundation for bottom-up models assessing decarbonization and circular economy strategies.
Alejandro Arias-Castillo (Thu,) studied this question.