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Paper products are carbon-intensive and having a huge potential for carbon reduction due to their biomass-oriented characteristics. A uniform standard for total carbon footprint (CF) accounting is vital. However, the existing standards have not yet been unified. Inconsistencies between standards cause difficulties in their use and significantly weaken the credibility and comparability of the carbon footprint of a product (CFP). This work rethought the three most widely used standards (Publicly Available Specification 2050 (PAS2050), Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (GHG Protocol), and Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (ISO14067)) from the life-cycle perspective, and established a more appropriate and comprehensive CF accounting standard for paper products (CFASPP). Sanitary pads were selected as a case study to illustrate the discrepancies between PAS 2050, the GHG Protocol, ISO 14067, and CFASPP, for which the annual production CF results were 1424.60, 1481.08, 1453.57, and 1427.04 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) respectively. The main reasons for the different CF results were the cut-off criteria and the inclusion or exclusion of carbon storage, delayed emissions, and energy recovery. Each element increased or decreased 22.57 (carbon storage), 29.96 (cut-off criteria), 10.4 (delayed emissions), and 27.52 (incineration with energy recovery) tons of CO 2 e in the results. With increasing demand, these discrepancies will become increasingly significant and may lead to corporations shouldering more or less carbon emission responsibilities by selecting different standards, which will challenge the fairness of product carbon neutrality management. CFASPP covers all paper product life-cycle stages and places greater emphasis on the aspects of carbon storage, delayed emissions, and energy recovery in incineration, which cannot be ignored for the CF accounting of paper products and other biomass-oriented products. This study aims to provide a more applicable and comprehensive guide for corporations to evaluate the CF of paper products, and to provide a reference for the construction of a carbon-neutral evaluation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transfer of industrial clean technology can contribute to the transformation of industry sustainable development to address the dual challenges of climate change and environmental pollution. Although its importance is widely acknowledged, there is still a lack of scientific and quantitative assessment framework to precisely and effectively identify high-potential cooperation targets in the context of countries with diverse backgrounds. To fill this gap, this study proposed a multidimensional assessment framework for industrial clean technology transfer potential with application in 58 BRI developing countries. This study reviewed existing literature on the main barriers and drivers of clean technology transfer and extracted four assessment dimensions as primary indicators, namely the recipient country's macro environment, industry development, clean technology demand, and clean technology transfer guarantee, with 13 secondary indicators, 52 tertiary indicators based on the open-source database and common assessment index. The established framework was then used to assess the potential for China's industrial clean technology transfer to 58 developing countries under the Belt and Road Initiative, with the weights of indicators at all levels determined by the analytic hierarchy process method based on expert questionnaires and equal weighting method. The findings demonstrate that there are significant differences in clean technology transfer potential among studied countries. Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia are the best options for China, while Bolivia, Cameroon, and Algeria have the lowest technology transfer potential. Our work can not only assist technology providers with overall country selection in industrial cleaner technology transfer cooperation and strengthen their risk prevention capacity, but also help countries with low cooperation potential or obvious weaknesses to identify deficiencies and make targeted improvements, as well as serve as a reference for other international technology cooperation assessments. • The study develops a novel framework to quantify the potential for industrial clean technology transfer for the first time. • The framework can guide country selection of clean technology transfers, and identify defiencies for low-potential countries. • The framework evaluated 58 BRI developing countries, revealing Qatar, UAE, and Malaysia as the top 3 with high potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing environmental concerns and the prospect of irreversible climate change highlight the necessity for the rapid transformation from fossil-based economy to the modern circular bio-based economy. Yet the urgency of green transformation may lead to insufficient consideration of scientific concerns about the sustainability of accelerated biomass deployment, and the inherent complexity and uncertainty in the assessment present a challenge to policy makers, researchers, and industry. This review aims to provide a retrospect towards the status of biomass resources from the feedstock to conversion process, and end-use. Understanding the distribution and potential projections of major biomass types are also critical steps to ensuring sustainable supply chains. A novel indicator framework was further established for assessing the sustainability of biomass resources by integrating the environmental and social-economic dimensions. Different indicators are interdependently connected and vary significantly among the feedstock categories, land use types and management practices. All of which are important considerations of the criteria for systematic research in the future, understanding the alternative potential of biomass resources, providing important insights for accelerating the transition to bio-based economy, as well as policy regulation. • A retrospect of biomass feedstocks, conversion approaches and final use. • Detailed classification, distribution and estimation methods of biomass feedstocks. • A novel indicator framework for sustainability assessment of biomass resources. • Challenges and prospects towards the achievement of sustainable bioeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]