Harvested Wood Products as a Carbon Sink in China, 1900–2016

Luyang Zhang, Yankun Sun, Tianyuan Song and Jiaqi Xu
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Luyang Zhang: College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China
Yankun Sun: College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China
Tianyuan Song: College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China
Jiaqi Xu: College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, 600 Changjiang Road, Harbin 150030, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: The use of harvested wood products (HWPs) influences the carbon flux. China is both the major producer and trader of HWP, so estimating the carbon stock change of China’s HWP is important to help curb climate change. Accurate reporting and accounting of carbon flows in the HWP pool is needed to meet greenhouse gas monitoring and climate change mitigation objectives under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. This study applied production approach (PA) to estimate the carbon stock change of China’s HWP from 1900 to 2016. During the estimating period, the carbon stock of HWP in use and deposed at solid waste disposal sites (SWDS) were 649.2 Teragrams Carbon (TgC) (346.8 TgC in wood-based panels, 216.7 TgC in sawnwood and 85.7 TgC in paper & paperboard) and 72.6 TgC, respectively. The carbon amount of annual domestic harvest HWP varied between 87.6 and 118.7 TgC. However, the imported carbon inflow increased significantly after the 1990s and reached 47.6 TgC in 2016, accounting for 46% of the domestic harvest of that year. China has great mitigation potential from HWP and use of this resource should be considered in future strategies to address climate change.

Keywords: climate change mitigation; harvested wood products; solid waste disposal site; carbon reporting and accounting; China carbon budget (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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