Exiobase 3.8 Products - Significant different between Climatiq and OpenLCA

Question

Hi,

I've recently ordered Exiobase 3.8 through Nexus and was just comparing some of the factors with Climatiq to ensure comparability before going any further with the project, using the product database.

In Climatiq (see screenshot) the carbon impact is 0.1097 kgCO2e/eur. 

When I run the same process in OpenLCA (admittedly with a 10^-6 cut off to manage memory), I get a value of 0.0619 kgCO2e/eur with IPCC2021, so just over half.

I note that the monetary is listed as "EUR 2000" in OpenLCA. I presume that as the dataset is from 2019, that "EUR 2000" is not a baseline of Euro value in the year 2000? There are no notes to that end in Exiobase 3.8.2 OpenLCA document.

Is it known why there is such a difference? Does it trace back to the inclusion (or not in OpenLCA) of land use change?

Thanks,

Chris

Comments

Did you calculate with the 2022 Nexus version (forecasted values from exiobase) or with the 2019 version (real values from exiobase) of the 3.8.2 exiobase version?

Here was a similar discussion where not the same version from Nexus was used compared to Climatiq. When the same version was used, the differences became smaller. For equal results, you would also need to use the same currency conversion and inflation rates as Climatiq.

https://ask.openlca.org/7350/exiobase-3-8-emission-factors?show=7350#q7350

https://www.climatiq.io/docs/guides/understanding/currency-support

Maybe this helps.

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Hi Conrad - yes I saw that previous query and that the databases were not the same. In this case, I am looking at the same databases - 3.8.2 in both circumstances.

I haven't tried to adjust for inflation or convert currencies beyond normalising the factor down to impact per euro.


Do you have any other suggestions for the large difference? For example, I cannot see any breakdown of biogenic carbon sources in OpenLCA while Climatiq expressly mentions land use is included. I have uploaded the impact analysis tab screenshot in the original message above.

Answer 1

Hi Chris, what is the process / sector in openLCA? Country is UK, I see. Thank you. I can try a full calculation then, a 1E-6 cutoff can have an influence. Thank you!

Comments

Hi Andreas - thank you for the offer.

The process I started with (although there will be others) is Renting services of machinery and equipment without operator and of personal and household goods (71) in the UK.

Thanks for your help in advance.