Miner, R. and J. Perez-Garcia. 2007. The greenhouse gas and carbon profile of the global forest products industry. Forest Products Journal (October 2007).

In this paper, widely accepted calculation methods and readily available data sets are used to characterize the forest products industry’s global carbon and greenhouse gas profile. The result is useful in understanding the industry’s current contributions to atmospheric greenhouse gases. The global forest products industry’s carbon and greenhouse gas profile is composed of emissions, sequestration, and avoided emissions. Emissions associated with forest products industry activities and products include emissions from manufacturing, as well as emissions associated with electricity purchases, transport, and releases of methane from discarded forest products in landfills. Carbon is sequestered in forests used to supply fiber to the industry and in forest products. Because the stocks of carbon in sustainably managed forests, averaged over time and area, are relatively stable, net sequestration is determined primarily by the fate of carbon transferred into products. The estimates developed in this study indicate that the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the activities and products of the global forest products industry are largely offset by sequestration, primarily attributable to increasing stocks of carbon in forest products. Avoided emissions, which represent other important connections between the industry and the global carbon cycle, are associated with the industry’s use of biomass fuels, combined by heat and power systems, recycling, and product substitution effects.

Copyright © 2007 by Forest Products Society. All rights reserved. Article posted on this website with permission.