The potential for reducing emissions through the substitution of giant reed for wood in pulp production and the benefits of forest carbon sequestration based on life cycle assessment

China's pulp industry is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and the loss of forest carbon sinks due to the process of obtaining wood raw materials is particularly significant. Domestic wood pulp production and consumption continue to rise, further intensifying carbon emissions and pressure on timber resources, posing a serious challenge to achieving industry emission reduction targets. To address this challenge, mitigate the loss of forest carbon stocks and reduce carbon emissions from the industry, this study proposes the replacement of wood pulp raw materials with giant reed raw materials in the production of pulp and evaluates the potential for emission reduction and avoidance of the loss of forest carbon stocks.

This study adopts the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to quantitatively analyze the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the wood pulp and giant reed pulp industry chain, and systematically assesses the potential contribution of the raw material substitution strategy (giant reed instead of wood) in the reduction of emissions in the pulp industry.

The replacement of wood by giant reed in the production of pulp significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The life cycle assessment shows that the emission reduction per unit of production (1 Adt) for different pulp type (BCP, UBCP, CMP) is about 0.056-0.214 tCO₂e, which is equivalent to a reduction of GHG emissions by 3.42%-14.76%, with the raw material collection and transportation stages being the key emission reduction links. At the same time, the use of 1 ton of ruderalis pulp reduces timber harvesting by about 4.732 m³ and retains about 4.844 tCO₂e of forest carbon stocks. The analysis of wood pulp capacity planning scenarios based on 65 production lines in 46 pulp mills in China in 2025 shows that bleached chemical pulp (BCP) has the greatest potential for emission reductions, and that Shandong, Hubei, and Guangxi are key regions for emission reductions. Under the 2060 carbon neutrality goal, the full implementation of the giant reed feedstock substitution strategy is predicted to retain about 39.26-157.05 TgCO₂e of forest carbon stocks per year and significantly reduce dependence on imported wood.

Substitution of giant reed raw materials for wood raw materials for pulp production has significant synergistic benefits of greenhouse gas emission reduction and forest carbon sink protection, which not only reduces dependence on imported wood, but also provides scientific and feasible technological support for the pulp industry to implement the national 2060 carbon neutrality goal, while significantly reducing dependence on imported wood.