Carbon Balance of China-Made Wood Products Assessed Using a Trade-Linked Approach

Harvested wood products (HWPs) contribute to forestry carbon removal and, therefore, to climate change mitigation. However, the complex international trade of raw wood materials and HWPs and the associated biogenic carbon conversion along the global supply chain are not properly accounted for in the existing HWP carbon accounting schemes, precluding effective climate policy design. To address the gap, we developed a generalizable Trade-Linked Approach to account for trade and the associated carbon stocks and emissions. In the case study for China-made HWPs in 1990-2020, trade partners supplied 22% (1425 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e, or 389 MtC) of raw materials and consumed 13% (691 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e, or 189 MtC) of the HWPs, with the latter double that of the FAOSTAT statistics that were used in the existing studies. In the same period, the trade partners contributed 13% (570 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e) of the total HWP carbon stocks. The HWPs consumed overseas provided a 43 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e yr<sup>-1</sup> carbon sink (15% of the total) from 2016 to 2020, which is close to the "forest and land use carbon credits" transacted in global voluntary carbon markets in 2020. In addition to adequately allocating carbon removals to each country, we appeal for a global HWP-associated carbon payment scheme to incentivize HWP-based mitigation activities along the supply chain.

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Publication Details

Journal
Environmental Science & Technology
Published
2025-05-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c09208
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Environmental Impact and Sustainability
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.40

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article

Carbon Balance of China-Made Wood Products Assessed Using a Trade-Linked Approach

Zhiyun Ouyang, Zhi Cao, Wen Hu, Xiaobiao Zhang et al.
3 citations
Environmental Science & Technology
Environmental Impact and Sustainability
2.40
article

Carbon Balance of China-Made Wood Products Assessed Using a Trade-Linked Approach

Zhiyun Ouyang, Zhi Cao, Wen Hu, Xiaobiao Zhang, Gang Liu, Shuai Shao, Manfred Lenzen, Pau Brunet‐Navarro, Fei Lü, Ana Cláudia Dias, Jiaxin Chen, Hongqiang Yang
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Harvested wood products (HWPs) contribute to forestry carbon removal and, therefore, to climate change mitigation. However, the complex international trade of raw wood materials and HWPs and the associated biogenic carbon conversion along the global supply chain are not properly accounted for in the existing HWP carbon accounting schemes, precluding effective climate policy design. To address the gap, we developed a generalizable Trade-Linked Approach to account for trade and the associated carbon stocks and emissions. In the case study for China-made HWPs in 1990-2020, trade partners supplied 22% (1425 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e, or 389 MtC) of raw materials and consumed 13% (691 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e, or 189 MtC) of the HWPs, with the latter double that of the FAOSTAT statistics that were used in the existing studies. In the same period, the trade partners contributed 13% (570 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e) of the total HWP carbon stocks. The HWPs consumed overseas provided a 43 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e yr<sup>-1</sup> carbon sink (15% of the total) from 2016 to 2020, which is close to the "forest and land use carbon credits" transacted in global voluntary carbon markets in 2020. In addition to adequately allocating carbon removals to each country, we appeal for a global HWP-associated carbon payment scheme to incentivize HWP-based mitigation activities along the supply chain.

Environmental Science & TechnologyVol. 59(21)
Tongji University (CN), The University of Sydney (AU), Nanjing Forestry University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Peking University (CN), Nankai University (CN), Ontario Forest Research Institute (CA), Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (ES), University of Economics and Management (CZ), Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (CN), Institute for Student Achievement (US), China Agricultural University (CN), University of Aveiro (PT)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences, “333 Project” of Jiangsu Province, Australian Research Council, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Environmental Impact and Sustainability
2.40
DOISourceOpenAlex
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