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Global supply chain of biomass use and the shift of environmental welfare from primary exploiters to final consumers

Ji, X; Liu, Y; Meng, J; Wu, X; (2020) Global supply chain of biomass use and the shift of environmental welfare from primary exploiters to final consumers. Applied Energy , 276 , Article 115484. 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115484. Green open access

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Abstract

With the increasingly frequent interregional trade that leads to the geographical separation of production and consumption, the invisible shift of the environmental welfare bestowed by biomass use is brought to attention. Using a systems embodiment accounting model, this study tracked the dynamic process of interregional transfer of biomass use from primary supply to final consumption via the global supply chain. The results reveal that biomass use embodied in global trade is 87% of total global biomass exploitation. Moreover, the intermediate trade volume is 1.7 times higher than the final trade volume. In terms of biomass use, the United States, South Korea, mainland China, Japan, and the United Kingdom are revealed as the five leading net importers and also the main final consumers. Brazil, India, Cyprus, Indonesia, and Latvia are demonstrated to be the top five net exporters and also the main exploiters of biomass resources. The biomass self-sufficiency rate by source and that by sink for each country are then discussed. The outcome shows that through the channels of global supply chain, the shift of environmental welfare from biomass-exporting nations to biomass-importing nations occurs along with interregional trade. For Brazil and India, we suggest that they should strike a balance between economic revenues and long-term sustainability. Regarding the consumption-oriented nations such as the United States, an increase in the energy efficiency of high value-added industries is recommended.

Type: Article
Title: Global supply chain of biomass use and the shift of environmental welfare from primary exploiters to final consumers
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115484
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115484
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Keywords: Global supply chain, Biomass use, Intermediate and final trade, Source-to-sink budget, Environmental welfare
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10107346
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