Energy efficiency as a critical resource to achieve carbon neutrality in the pulp and paper sector

Abstract

The urgent challenge of reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions has created a growing demand for a more comprehensive understanding of how various technology options can contribute to achieving carbon neutrality. Energy efficiency has long been regarded as a key pathway in this context, but the volume and diversity of efficiency options has resulted in an unclear understanding of their combined impacts. In this study, we present a novel technology-explicit method to estimate the overall abatement potential associated with a comprehensive suite of 115 energy efficiency technologies spanning all relevant sector processes and energy types. By applying our flexible analysis framework to a case study of the Canadian pulp and paper sector, we demonstrate that energy efficiency could be the single largest contributor to achieving a carbon-neutral target for the sector. We find that efficiency can reduce emissions by 4.92 MtCO 2 e/yr (66%) relative to business-as-usual by 2050 at a weighted average abatement cost of -$162/tCO 2 e when accounting for capital, operating, maintenance, and energy costs. Abatement at the energy system-wide level is even larger, reaching 6.67 MtCO 2 e in 2050 when accounting for upstream effects. Adoption of the full suite of efficiency measures could materially improve the competitiveness of the sector by reducing energy and carbon costs. On the whole, our results suggest that proven energy efficiency technologies could be the primary element of a credible low-cost pathway towards achieving a target of carbon neutrality for the pulp and paper sector.