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Carbon footprint of commercial forest plantations (Eucalyptus grandis, Pinus

patula) and protection forest plantation (Guadua angustifolia kunth) in
Colombia

Conference Paper · June 2018

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National University of Colombia National University of Colombia
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National University of Colombia National University of Colombia
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Carbon Footprint of Commercial Forest Plantations

(Eucalyptus grandis, Pinus patula) and Protection
Forest Plantation (Guadua angustifolia kunth) in
Colombia
a*
MARTÍNEZ, L.A. , CUÉLLAR, Y. a, PÁEZ, N.J. a, PEDRAZA, J.I. a, BELÁLCAZAR-CERÓN,
L.C a

a. Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental. Facultad de Ingeniería. Universidad Nacional de

Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia.

*Corresponding author, lamartinezv@unal.edu.co

Abstract
Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a criterion to identify and quantify environmental benefits for process or products. LCA
is useful to determine different environmental impact categories in the whole production chain or part of it. Carbon
dioxide mitigation improves the global environmental impact of a specific product expressed as carbon footprint by
the substitution of raw materials and processes to combine environmental and economic benefits. In this work,
LCA was performed to determine the carbon footprint for two commercial forest plantations (Eucalyptus grandis,
Pinus patula) and one protection forest (Guadua angustifolia kunth) in Colombia. Forestry operations were divided
into three categories: seedlings production, planting and soil preparation, and maintenance and control. The felling
process was not considered. The amount of plants per hectare was established for each species. The OpenLCA®
software was used to evaluate emissions in global warming potential, and the Ecoinvent v3.2 database for the
inputs of life cycle inventory data for different secondary processes. The inputs that feed the forestry processes
were obtained from the management and commercial forestry plans for the evaluated species. Results showed
that the variations depend on species planted and their maintenance, which includes different levels of
fertilization, as well as different intensity of forestry operations. The maintenance and control stage have the
highest contribution to total emissions of CO2, being a considerable result that counteracts the CO2 captured by
the plantations.

Keywords: carbon footprint, life cycling analisys, OpenLCA

“CLEANER PRODUCTION FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS”

Barranquilla – Colombia – June 21st and 22nd - 2018
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