energies
Article Decarbonization Prospects for the European Pulp and Paper Industry: Different Development Pathways and Needed Actions Satu Lipiäinen * , Eeva-Lotta Apajalahti and Esa Vakkilainen
LUT School of Energy Systems, LUT University, 53850 Lappeenranta, Finland * Correspondence: satu.lipiainen@lut.fi
Abstract: The pulp and paper industry (PPI) has several opportunities to contribute to meeting prevailing climate targets. It can cut its own CO 2 emissions, which currently account for 2% of global industrial fossil CO 2 emissions, and it has an opportunity to produce renewable energy, fuels, and materials for other sectors. The purpose of this study is to improve understanding of the decarbonization prospects of the PPI. The study provides insights on the magnitude of needed annual renewal rates for several possible net-zero target years of industrial fossil CO 2 emissions in the PPI and discusses decarbonization opportunities, namely, energy and material efficiency improvement, fuel switching, electrification, renewable energy production, carbon capture, and new products. The effects of climate policies on the decarbonization opportunities are critically evaluated to provide an overview of the current and future business environment of the European PPI. The focus is on Europe, but other regions are analyzed briefly to widen the view. The analysis shows that there are no major technical barriers to the fossil-free operation of the PPI, but the sector renovates slowly, and many new opportunities are not implemented on a large scale due to immature technology, poor economic feasibility, or unclear political environment.
Keywords: energy transition; pulp and paper industry; climate policy; bioenergy; CO 2 emissions; BECCS; biofuels; energy efficiency
Citation: Lipiäinen, S.; Apajalahti, E.-L.; Vakkilainen, E. Decarbonization Prospects for the European Pulp and Paper Industry: Different Development Pathways and Needed Actions. Energies 2023 , 16 , 746. https://doi.org/10.3390/ en16020746
1. Introduction Industrial energy consumption accounts for nearly 40% of total global energy con- sumption [1]. The energy use of industry is dominated by fossil fuels, and direct industrial CO 2 emissions were 8.7 GtCO 2 in 2020, which represents 26% of global emissions. Industry has been considered as one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonize. The facilities have typically long lifetimes, and many technologies needed for decarbonization are still in the development phase. The demand for industrial products is expected to rise in the future, which may increase CO 2 emissions [2]. In addition to CO 2 emission reductions, it is expected that the industrial sector renovates by creating new products, services, additional markets, jobs, and new business models as well as shifts toward a circular and sustainable economy. Political guidance will play a central role in meeting the expectations. Limitation of global warming to 1.5 ◦ C requires rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) estimates remaining carbon budget at roughly 400–800 GtCO 2 , and with the current annual emissions of 42 GtCO 2 , the budget will be surpassed in 10–19 years [3]. The European Union (EU) aims to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 [4]. In 2021, the EU tightened its 2030 CO 2 emissions reduction target significantly: the cut must be 55% instead of 40% in comparison with 1990 levels [4,5]. The new target includes improvements in land use, land use change, and the forestry (LULUCF) sector. Other targets were tightened as well to achieve the ambitious CO 2 emissions reduction goal. A binding target for the share of renewable energy in the energy mix in 2030 increased from 32% to 40%, and the energy efficiency improvement (EEI)
Academic Editor: Wen-Hsien Tsai
Received: 18 November 2022 Revised: 22 December 2022 Accepted: 5 January 2023 Published: 9 January 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
Energies 2023 , 16 , 746. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16020746
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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