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PODlLCA Project Data: Transportation distances, environmental impact factors and emissions of freight in the U.S. global supply chains

Torabi, Mahsa1; Simonen, Kathrina1; Life Cycle Lab, College of Built Environment, University of Washington

Published May 05, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n02v6wxbr

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May 05, 2026 version files 33.63 MB

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Abstract

Transportation in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modeling is commonly represented using simplified, one-size-fits-all assumptions. However, empirical freight data show that transportation distances and associated environmental impacts vary significantly depending on material type, transportation mode, and regional infrastructure conditions. These variations can lead to substantial differences in results and are not well captured in conventional building sector LCA practice. To address this gap, this dataset provides data-driven, regionally informed transportation parameters for use in U.S.-based LCA modeling.

Environmental impacts were evaluated in OpenLCA (version 2.5.0) using the US EPA ISO21930-LCIA-US (v0.1) LCIA method. The USLCI repository was used to obtain inventory data using USLCI data. For transportation modes not available in USLCI at the time of dataset development, additional quantitative calculation methods were applied and documented in associated research materials.

This dataset provides transportation distances, environmental impact factors and emissions appropriate to support modeling of material transport in global supply chains delivering goods to the United States. It combines publicly available freight and trade datasets with life cycle inventory (LCI) processes and research to generate multimodal transportation distance and environmental impacts estimates for domestic and international transport segments. The dataset includes route-level information linking origin regions to U.S. destination states, transportation mode(s), distance assumptions, and vehicle efficiency tiers.

The dataset is organized to support modeling transportation in LCA and supply chain analysis, including applications in building and construction material transport, procurement policy analysis, and scenario testing of transportation assumptions when specific transportation data is not known. The data can be reused to parameterize transportation modules, compare mode impacts, evaluate sensitivity to distance, mode of transport and efficiency assumptions, and support transparent, reproducible modeling of domestic and global freight transportation impacts.

This dataset was developed as part of the Parametric Open Data for Life Cycle Assessment Project (POD|LCA) Project which contains a suite of open-source methods, models, data, and a variety of tools for screening-level (early-stage) building sector life cycle assessments (LCAs). This dataset can be used to fill data gaps in LCA studies and is being integrated into tools developed by the POD|LCA project.