Offshoring of Pulpwood Production Increases Transport Emissions and Challenges Emission Trading

Finnish researchers are sounding the alarm about the increasing trend of offshoring pulpwood production to South America, which may appear to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but actually leads to a significant growth in transport emissions. The study found that transportation accounted for 27% of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of South American pulp shipped to Europe. This trend poses challenges for the implementation of emission trading schemes, as the responsibility of countries for transoceanic transport remains unclear.

Key Takeaways:

• Offshoring of pulpwood production to South America from Finland decreases global greenhouse gas emissions of pulp production itself, but transport emissions outweigh this benefit.
• Transportation accounted for 27% of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of South American pulp shipped to Europe.
• The offshoring of biomass production contributes to a significant growth of transport emissions, which can negate any potential emission reductions from outsourcing biomass production.
• The trend of offshoring provides challenges for the implementation of emission trading since the responsibility of countries to transoceanic transport is still unclear.
• Finnish and South American industrial data were combined with data from LCA databases in the life cycle inventory (LCI) for the study.
• A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used as the system modeling tool, with the impact assessment limited to climate change.

Statistics:

• 27%: Transportation accounted for this percentage of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of South American pulp shipped to Europe.
• 16(9):878-885: The study was published in volume 16, issue 9, pages 878-885 of the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
• 2011: The study was published in this year.
• 00251: Helsinki, Finland, postal code for the Finnish Environment Institute.
• 69121: Heidelberg, Germany, ZIP code for the publisher, Springer Heidelberg.

Sources:

• Judl, J., et al. (2011). The climate change implications of offshoring Finnish pulp production to South America. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 16(9), 878-885.
• Finnish Environment Institute. J. Judl, Helsinki 00251, Finland.
• Springer Heidelberg. Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany.