Major challenges concerning climate change are facing the world and action needs to be taken by the entire society to prevent serious consequences. Contaminated sites are another wide spread environmental and health issue and the need for remediation is great. Unfortunately, remediations often cause high climate impact due to many and long transports, as well as other factors, in order to treat or deposit the contaminated soil. The purpose of this study was to investigate if and how Swedish municipalities take the climate issue into consideration when selecting a soil remediation method and to identify factors that could increase the climate consideration. To accomplish this, a survey was created and directed to the departments of land and exploitation, in 276 municipalities of Sweden. The results showed that it was not very common to set goals concerning limited climate impact or to calculate it. Rather many deposit contaminated soil and rather many also think that more climate friendly remediation techniques could lead to equal risk reduction. Increased technical feasibility and increased knowledge, as well as increased guidance on risk balancing and changed requirements from authorities, were most often believed to have the highest potential of increased climate consideration. Cost and time consumption were often limiting factors. Conclusions were that the development of sustainable remediation techniques needs to continue. Also, authorities are suggested to offer more guidance as well as a more holistic approach in order for the remediation sector to better meet climate goals.

I Sverige finns det idag cirka 86 000 inventerade områden som är eller misstänks vara förorenade. Ett förorenat område kan ha en skadlig effekt på människor, djur och miljö vid exponering av föroreningarna. Områden som är förorenade kan därför behöva behandlas för att lokalt förbättra markkvalitén och för att minska risker. Ett problem som börjat uppmärksammas i branschen är att saneringar av mark också kan leda till betydande negativa konsekvenser som till exempel utsläpp av växthusgaser och nyttjande av fossila resurser. Bland annat riskeras det svenska miljömålet ”Begränsad klimatpåverkan” att inte uppnås om ingenting förändras. Den vanligaste metoden för att efterbehandla ett förorenat område i Sverige är genom schaktsanering. Studiens syfte var att undersöka klimatpåverkan och resurshanteringen från schaktsanering genom att göra en livscykelanalys på metoden. Metodens klimatpåverkan jämfördes också med andra saneringsmetoder. Resultaten visade att för schaktsanering bidrog transport och deponiarbetet till den största klimatpåverkan och resursanvändningen. Genom minskade transportavstånd, användning av fordon med lägre energiåtgång per transportarbete eller utbyte mot mer förnyelsebara drivmedel sågs miljöpåverkan minska. Deponering av massor sågs dessutom vara energikrävande, varpå incitament för att återvinna och återanvända massor i högre utsträckning än vad det görs idag efterfrågas. I jämförelse med andra saneringsmetoder sågs biokol vara den metod som gav upphov till en relativt liten klimatpåverkan. Dessutom medförde biokol en mer resurseffektiv avfallshantering i och med minskad deponering av jord, organiskt avfall och uttag av jungfruliga råvaror för återfyllnad. / In Sweden, there are currently approximately 86,000 inventoried sites that are identified as being contaminated. A contaminated site can have a harmful effect on humans, animals and the environment when exposed to the contaminants. Contaminated areas may therefore need to be remediated to locally improve soil quality and to reduce risks. A problem that has been noticed in the industry is that remediation of land can also lead to significant negative environmental consequences, such as the release of greenhouse gases and the use of fossil resources. For example, the Swedish environmental quality objective "Reduced climate impact" might not be achieved unless there are improvements. The most common method to remediate a contaminated site in Sweden is through “dig and dump”. The purpose of this study was to investigate the climate impact and resource usage from “dig and dump” by performing a life cycle assessment of this most common remediation method. The climate impact of the method was also compared with other remediation methods. The results showed that for “dig and dump”, transports and landfill of the soil contributed to the greatest climate impact and resource use. Through reduced transport distances, use of vehicles with lower energy consumption or exchange for more renewable fuels, the environmental impact was reduced. Landfilling of excavated soil was also energy demanding, and incentives to recycle and reuse soil to a greater extent than is done today are preferred. In comparison with other remediation methods, biochar was a method that caused a relatively small climate impact. In addition, biochar led to a more resource-efficient waste management through reduced disposal of soil, organic waste, and extraction of virgin raw materials for refilling.