Energies 2023 , 16 , 746
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According to Kuparinen [16], mills in the OECD countries are more eager to adopt new technologies and change their business than mills in developing countries, which has been seen as innovative products such as lignin-based solutions. However, conditions for novel energy-intensive technologies, for example, the production of hydrogen and carbon capture processes, might be more attractive in developing countries. In southern countries, for example, in South America, the stand-alone pulp mills may have an excess of heat and electricity that cannot be sold due to limited access to the electric grid, whereas in northern countries, pulp mills are typically integrated into paper-making, or the mills can sell energy to the electricity grid and district heating network. Political environment varies between regions as well, and often the OECD countries have a higher pressure to decrease CO 2 emissions (e.g., the EU ETS), which also affects the progress of the PPI. 4. Conclusions The pulp and paper industry has several opportunities to decarbonize its own opera- tion and contribute to the emissions reduction in other sectors. The sector has no crucial barriers to reaching net-zero industrial emissions, but achieving that potential requires significant changes. In the European PPI, the theoretical annual capacity renewal rate of 3.2% would be needed to eliminate industrial fossil CO 2 emissions by 2050 even if all new-build capacity was fossil-free. The prospects for and the progress of decarbonization vary within the mill types as well as the regions. Kraft pulp mills have good premises to achieve carbon neutrality or even act as carbon sinks. Stand-alone paper mills that cover their energy demand combusting fossil fuels need the significant changes of energy supply. Decarbonization pathways will vary within the regions due to different production volumes, mill types, available resources, used fuels, and prevailing trends. The opportunities of the PPI in CO 2 emissions reduction are versatile but also over- lapping; i.e., it must be decided how valuable biomass should be utilized in the future. In the near future, the PPI can intensify the energy use of bio-based waste streams, which facilitates the transition toward fossil fuel-free mills together with the energy efficiency improvement and electrification of processes and energy production. In the long-term future, the residues of the PPI industry may play a key role in the bioeconomy that aims to eliminate fossil raw materials, which might increase the role of the electrification of the sector. The technologies for the production of novel renewable products are mostly available, but the number of implemented projects is low due to poor economic feasibility and because the continuously changing business environment is not attractive for investors, and some policies are hindering the enlargement of the product portfolio (e.g., the produc- tion of e-fuels). To advance, the role of bioeconomy and e-fuels in the sustainable transition needs to be clarified, and the role of the PPI should not be underestimated, as there will be a huge need for renewable materials. Author Contributions: Conceptualization, S.L. and E.V.; methodology, S.L.; investigation, S.L.; data curation, S.L.; writing—original draft preparation, S.L.; writing—review and editing, E.-L.A. and E.V.; visualization, S.L.; supervision, E.V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding from the Academy of Finland for the project “Role of forest industry transformation in energy efficiency improvement and reducing CO 2 emissions”, grant number 315019. Data Availability Statement: Data is contained within the article: sources for utilized data are given in this article. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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