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Factors contributing to China’s carbon stock change in the harvested wood products trade

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Abstract

Trade in harvested wood products (HWPs) induces carbon stock changes between different countries. Carbon stock change significantly influences a country’s contribution to carbon removals. China is a net importer of HWPs, and the trade in HWPs has a positive contribution to China’s carbon stock. This paper empirically analyzes the factors influencing carbon stock changes. The results imply that the forest resource difference and the GDP of the two trading countries have significantly positive impacts on the carbon stock change in HWP trade, while the population size, distance, trade openness difference and illegal logging control policies on both trading sides have significantly negative impacts. An in-depth study of the carbon stock change in the trade of industrial roundwood, paper and cardboard, sawnwood, and wood-based panels confirmed these results. Based on the conclusions, this paper recommends some policies to improve the carbon stock of China’s HWPs.

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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Notes

  1. USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, UK, Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, New Zealand, Chile, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, France, Netherlands, Sweden, India, Finland, Italy South Africa, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Belgium, and Mexico are ranked the top 29 in China's harvested wood products trade flows, and their total trade accounted for 83.5% of China's total harvested wood products trade. The geographical location of these 29 countries covers Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, North America and South America, and they are highly representative. Therefore, these 29 countries are selected as sample markets.

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The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wu Jinglian School of Economics, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213159, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Zhijie Guan, Yaxin Zhang & Yue Zhang

  2. Department of Economic Management, Changzhou University Huaide College, Taizhou, 214500, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Zhijie Guan & Zhiyuan Guo

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  1. Zhijie Guan
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Zhijie Guan and Yaxin Zhang wrote the main manuscript text and Zhiyuan Guo and Yue Zhang prepared tables. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhijie Guan.

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Guan, Z., Zhang, Y., Guo, Z. et al. Factors contributing to China’s carbon stock change in the harvested wood products trade. Eur. J. Wood Prod. 82, 917–926 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-023-02009-3

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