Balancing economy, user guarantee, and carbon emissions towards sustainable natural gas pipeline network planning

Natural gas pipeline network is an indispensable public infrastructure, and its reasonable construction is of great importance to national energy security. Natural gas pipeline network planning not only involves huge investment, but also affects environmental protection. Most importantly, it is also related to the guarantee of gas consumption of downstream social users. At present, the trade-off between economy, user guarantee and carbon emissions is not clear. In order to find a more environmentally friendly natural gas pipeline planning, this paper proposed a natural gas pipeline network planning method that comprehensively considers economy, user guarantee and carbon emissions to minimize the total cost of pipeline construction and operation, improve the gas guarantee of users and reduce carbon emissions. Taking the actual pipeline network in a certain area as an example, the trade-off between economy, user guarantee and carbon emissions in pipeline network planning is investigated by comparing the traditional single economic objective scenario with six multi-objective scenarios. Results show that considering all three factors can cut emissions by 89 % compared to focusing solely on economic goals, with user guarantee also improving. When prioritizing economic efficiency in a multi-objective scenario, costs decrease by 12.2 %–13.6 % compared to other scenarios, though user guarantee and emission reductions are lower. These findings highlight the inherent trade-offs among economy, user assurance, and emissions, with different priorities leading to varying outcomes. This research offers a method to achieve multi-objective planning, allowing for tailored solutions based on planners’ preferences.