Tree plantations for paper help to mitigate climate change by absorbing CO2.
In Spain, this represents the annual absorption of 7.5 million tons of CO2. The annual increase of CO2 storage is 2.6 million tons.
The wood used in the manufacturing of paper is not the fine wood of exotic species from tropical forests, nor is it the wood of oak or beech tress. To make paper, rapid-growth trees (in Spain primarily pine and eucalyptus trees) are used. These are cultivated on tree plantations which are established and maintained for this purpose. Far from contributing to the diminishing of the forest surface area, then, the paper industry contributes to its growth through these tree farms.
In Spain, thanks to paper production, there are 430,000 hectares of pine and eucalyptus forest (2,4% of the total forest surface area).
Plantations of rapid-growth species, due to this particular characteristic, are efficient absorbers of CO2 and in this way contribute to slowing down climate change. Recent studies show that once a forest reaches maturity, it stops absorbing carbon, making these plantations an environmental opportunity.
Of the 15 million m3 of wood produced a year in Spain, only 4 million m3 are used in the manufacturing of paper.
Paper is a warehouse for CO2: One kilogram of a paper stores 1.3 kilograms of CO2.
Stored carbon is not released when a tree is cut down, but remains a part of forest products. For example, in the case of books, paper is stored for decades in our libraries. With recycling, the sequester time for carbon gradually increases.
Recycling paper reduces the volume of disposal sites and the emissions they produce.
The 5 million tons of paper recovered each year in Spain for recycling result in a saving on landfill volume equivalent to 50 large football stadiums such as Real Madrid's Bernabeu or Barcelona's Camp Nou filled to the brim and represents a saving in disposal emissions of 4.5 million tons of CO2.
Clean and renewable energy
The paper sector is the leader in the generation and use of clean energy in Europe: it generates nearly 50% of the renewable energy with biomass in Europe and 91% of the fuel it uses is clean energy: natural gas (62%) and renewable fuels such as residual biomass from the manufacturing process (29%).
The paper industry is also one of the driving forces behind cogeneration, or eco-efficient energy, a system which produces electric and thermal energy simultaneously for industrial production, with a very high level of performance, saving in the process basic energy and reducing emissions. Through cogeneration, the sector produces 2.2% of the total electricity generated in Spain and is the country leader with 18% of national cogeneration.