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Environmental Sustainability and Transport Infrastructure Risk Management: How do environmental sustainability requirements influence risks and uncertainties, risk-management practices, and decision-making in transport infrastructure projects during the planning, design, and construction phases?
KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Civil and Architectural Engineering, Sustainable Buildings.
2026 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Environmental Sustainability and Transport Infrastructure Risk Management : How do environmental sustainability requirements influence risks and uncertainties, risk-management practices, and decision-making in transport infrastructure projects during the planning, design, and construction phases? (English)
Abstract [en]

Transport infrastructure projects are expected to support sustainable mobilitywhile limiting environmental impacts during planning and construction. Thisthesis examines how environmental sustainability requirements influenceuncertainty, risk-management practices, and decision-making in theseprojects, with particular empirical emphasis on planning, design, and approval.The study uses a qualitative design that combines a semi-systematic literaturereview with four expert interviews with six professionals from Germany.The participants represented project management, technical infrastructureplanning, environmental and approvals planning, climate and sustainabilityassessment, and communication. The interview material was analysed throughqualitative content analysis using iterative coding and constant comparison,and the findings were then compared with the literature.The results show that environmental sustainability-driven risks operate in twoconnected directions. Projects may create risks to environmental and climateobjectives, while environmental conditions and requirements may create risksto project delivery through approval difficulties, additional investigations,redesign, cost increases, delays, material constraints, and coordination problems.Important uncertainties concern incomplete or outdated environmentaldata, methodological differences, changing requirements, immature technicalinformation, and future climate conditions.These risks are addressed through partially connected processes, includingenvironmental assessment, specialist studies, GIS-based conflict analysis,risk registers, workshops, carbon accounting, and climate risk assessment.Environmental assessment and conventional project risk management arecomplementary but not fully integrated. Effective integration depends on earlyspecialist involvement, iterative updating, clear allocation of responsibility,with the client in a central coordinating role, interdisciplinary coordination,and continuity from design and approval into contracts, construction, andmonitoring. Environmental requirements also influence variant evaluationby shaping the feasibility of approval, evidence requirements, and tradeoffs.The thesis concludes that environmental sustainability-driven riskmanagement is not a separate process but rather emerges from the interactionamong environmental assessment, technical planning, approval, project riskmanagement, and organisational decision-making.

Abstract [sv]

Transportinfrastrukturprojektet förväntas främja hållbar rörlighet samtidigtsom miljöpåverkan begränsas under planering och byggnation. Dennaavhandling undersöker hur krav på miljömässig hållbarhet påverkar osäkerhet,riskhanteringsrutiner och beslutsfattande i dessa projekt, med särskildempirisk inriktning på planering, utformning och tillståndsgivning.Studien använder en kvalitativ metod som kombinerar en semistruktureradlitteraturöversikt med fyra expertintervjuer med sex yrkesverksamma iTyskland. Deltagarna representerade projektledning, teknisk infrastrukturplanering,miljö- och tillståndsplanering, klimat- och hållbarhetsbedömning samtkommunikation. Intervjumaterialet analyserades genom kvalitativ innehållsanalysmed hjälp av iterativ kodning och ständig jämförelse och resultatenjämfördes därefter med litteraturen.Resultaten visar att risker som drivs av miljömässig hållbarhet verkari två sammanhängande riktningar. Projekt kan skapa risker för miljöochklimatmål, medan miljöförhållanden och krav kan skapa risker förprojektgenomförandet genom godkännandeproblem, ytterligare utredningar,omprojektering, kostnadsökningar, förseningar, materialbegränsningaroch samordningsproblem. Viktiga osäkerhetsfaktorer rör ofullständiga ellerföråldrade miljödata, metodologiska skillnader, förändrade krav, bristfälligteknisk information och framtida klimatförhållanden.Dessa risker hanteras genom delvis sammankopplade processer, däriblandmiljöbedömning, specialiststudier, GIS-baserad konfliktanalys, riskregister,workshoppar, koldioxidredovisning och klimatriskbedömning. Miljöbedömningoch konventionell projektriskhantering kompletterar varandra men ärinte fullt integrerade. En effektiv integration förutsätter tidigt specialistengagemang,iterativ uppdatering, tydlig ansvarsfördelning där beställaren haren central samordnande roll, tvärvetenskaplig samordning samt kontinuitetfrån utformning och godkännande till avtal, byggande och övervakning.Miljökrav påverkar också utvärderingen av olika alternativ genom attforma möjligheten till godkännande, krav på underlag och avvägningar.Avhandlingen drar slutsatsen att miljöhållbarhetsdriven riskhantering inteär en separat process utan snarare växer fram ur samspelet mellanmiljöbedömning, teknisk planering, godkännande, projektriskhantering ochorganisatoriskt beslutsfattande.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2026.
Series
TRITA-ABE-MBT ; 26312
Keywords [en]
environmental sustainability, transport infrastructure projects, project decisionmaking, uncertainty, risk management, German approval process
Keywords [sv]
Miljömässig hållbarhet, Transportinfrastrukturprojekt, Projektbeslut, Osäkerhet, Riskhantering, Tysk godkännandeprocess
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-387771OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-387771DiVA, id: diva2:2096632
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2026-08-31 Created: 2026-08-31

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