There is an increasing demand amongst decision-makers and stakeholders for identifying sustainable
remediation alternatives at contaminated sites, taking into account that remediation typically results in
both positive and negative consequences. Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is increasingly used for sustainability
appraisal, and the Excel-based MCA tool Sustainable Choice Of REmediation (SCORE) has been
developed to provide a relevant and transparent assessment of the sustainability of remediation alternatives
relative to a reference alternative, considering key criteria in the economic, environmental and
social sustainability domains, and taking uncertainty into explicit account through simulation. The focus
of this paper is the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a part of SCORE for assessing the economic
sustainability of remediation alternatives. An economic model is used for deriving a cost-benefit rule,
which in turn motivates cost and benefit items in a CBA of remediation alternatives. The empirical part of
the paper is a CBA application on remediation alternatives for the Hexion site, a former chemical industry
area close to the city of G€oteborg in SW Sweden. The impact of uncertainties in and correlations across
benefit and cost items on CBA results is illustrated. For the Hexion site, the traditional excavation-anddisposal
remediation alternative had the lowest expected net present value, which illustrates the
importance of also considering other alternatives before deciding upon how a remediation should be
carried out.