Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Accounting of China’s Physical Publishing Industry

Ruixin Xu, Yongwen Yang (), Liting Zhang (), Qifen Li, Fanyue Qian, Lifei Song and Bangpeng Xie
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Ruixin Xu: School of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Electric Power University, Shanghai 200090, China
Yongwen Yang: School of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Electric Power University, Shanghai 200090, China
Liting Zhang: School of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Electric Power University, Shanghai 200090, China
Qifen Li: School of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Electric Power University, Shanghai 200090, China
Fanyue Qian: School of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Electric Power University, Shanghai 200090, China
Lifei Song: School of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Electric Power University, Shanghai 200090, China
Bangpeng Xie: State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Company, Shanghai 200122, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The publishing industry, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, produced approximately 730 Mt CO 2 eq globally in 2020 during the paper production phase alone. Unlike other sectors, decarbonization in publishing requires systematic reforms across the supply chain, production efficiency, energy transitions, consumption patterns, and recycling processes, as reliance on renewable energy alone is insufficient. This study focuses on China’s physical publishing industry, developing a comprehensive, high-resolution carbon emissions dataset that spans multiple publication types, stages, and processes. It reveals the emission characteristics across the life cycle, aiming to quantify the emissions accurately and address the lack of life-cycle-based research. This study explores efficient, replicable, and scalable strategies to facilitate the industry’s low-carbon transformation and sustainable development. The findings are as follows. (1) Books are the primary carbon emissions source, contributing approximately 77.05% of the total emissions, while journals and newspapers account for 13.20% and 9.75%, respectively. (2) Annual carbon accounting across the life-cycle identifies paper production and printing as the most carbon-intensive stages, responsible for about 85% of the total emissions. (3) In terms of recycling efforts, carbon reductions of approximately 347,000 t CO 2 eq per year can be achieved through measures such as waste paper and plastic packaging recycling, second-hand publication exchanges, and energy recovery from incineration.

Keywords: carbon accounting; physical publishing industry; life cycle inventory; energy flow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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