PAPERmaking! Vol10 Nr2 2024

Forests 2022 , 13 , 1856

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in paper products production [7]. Hence, scientific accounting of CO 2 emissions from the whole life cycle of paper products can provide an information reference for the devel- opment of China’s paper product CO 2 emission life cycle database and related standard guidelines, which is of positive significance to the green transformation development of the papermaking industry. Currently, the methods used by scholars to account for CO 2 emissions from the pro- duction process of paper products mainly include the carbon emission factor method, input- output method, and life cycle assessment. Fleiter et al., Zhang et al., and Wang et al. [8–10] all used the carbon emission factor method provided in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories to account for theCO 2 emissions generated by the pulp and paper production process of paper companies as well as the industry. Pulping and papermaking are the main processes in paper product production, yet the waste treatment processes are also crucial. Wang et al. [11] measured theCO 2 emissions of pulp making, alkali recovery, and wastewater treatment processes in papermaking enterprises in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces using the carbon emission factor method, and the results showed that CO 2 emissions per unit of straw pulp were the highest, followed by wood pulp, and waste pulp was the lowest. Chen et al. [12] estimated energy consumption and CO 2 emissions of the Chinese papermaking industry from a supply chain perspective supplemented by the energy input/output method, involving the main processes of forest cultivation, logging, pulp, and paper production. Accounting found that the total CO 2 emissions of China’s papermaking industry in 2011 was 149.74 × 10 6 t, with unit CO 2 emissions of about 1543 kg/t paper, much higher than the 200 kg/t paper in the Netherlands and 204 kg/t paper in Sweden in the same period (We need to note that the energy mix in China is very different from that in Europe. China is a country rich in coal resources, but less in oil and natural gas resources, and the development and use of new energy in the overall energy system is not yet in a dominant position, contrary to the widespread use of renewable energy in European plants. Therefore, China is one of a few countries in the world whose energy production and consumption is dominated by coal. These differences are also directly reflected in the difference in carbon emissions from the paper industry). Zhao et al. [13] accounted and analyzed the implicit carbon flows andCO 2 emissions in the production and operation of Stora Enso (Guangxi), an integrated forest-paper enterprise, based on the multi-level input/output method of the forest-pulp- paper supply chain, and proposed relevant ways to reduce CO 2 emissions in the enterprise. In addition, Furszyfer Del Rio et al. [14] presented the main determinants of energy and CO 2 emissions emerging from the papermaking industry and barriers to decarbonization of the papermaking industry based on a socio-technical utilization perspective. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method to quantitatively evaluate the resource con- sumption and environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle, from the acqui- sition of raw materials, the production of the product to the disposal of the product after use, etc. It is a product-oriented environmental load quantification tool and is increasingly used in the papermaking industry. In terms of theoretical exploration, Li et al. [15] used life cycle theory to construct an analytical framework for CO 2 emission accounting of paper products in the papermaking industry; Liu et al. [16] analyzed the carbon source and car- bon sink flow of paper enterprises in the context of forest-paper integration; Ma et al. [17] constructed a carbon footprint evaluation system for products in the papermaking industry and evaluated the application of carbon footprint in the papermaking industry and enter- prises. Tang and Zheng [18,19] divided the life cycle of paper products into four stages from the perspective of market consumption: input period, growth period, maturity period, and decline period, and based on the characteristics of each stage, the development stages of paper products and their characteristics were judged through the analysis of indexed data such as types of paper products, production volume, consumption, and degree of industry competition, etc. As for empirical studies, Lopes et al. and Dias et al. [20,21] used the LCA method to evaluate the environmental impact of the papermaking industry in Portugal. Gemechu et al. [22] used the LCA method to calculate and analyze the green-

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