Life cycle analysis to estimate CO2 e emissions from forest harvesting systems in intensively managed Pinus radiata plantations

ABSTRACT A Life Cycle Analyses (LCA) assessment was evaluated comparing three harvesting systems on intensively managed Pinus radiata (radiata pine) plantations growing in the Biobío Region, Chile. Evaluated systems considered semi-mechanized, mechanized, and tower logging in steep slope forest operations. Our LCA study focused on CO2 e emissions from six harvesting activities: felling, logging, processing, sorting, loading, and transportation, all under the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The average and maximum monthly production scenarios were the highest for the semi-mechanized system with 24 and 25.2 kg CO2 e m−3, followed by the tower logging with 23.2 and 24.5 kg CO2 e m−3 and, lastly, the mechanized system with 11 and 12.1 kg CO2 e m−3. Similar to other studies, harvesting phases that contributed the most were logging, loading and transport. Concerning LCA stages, forest equipment operation generated the highest CO2 e level across the three harvesting systems where fuel consumption was the activity that contributed with 76% of CO2 e for the mechanized system, and 50% in the case of the tower logging and semi-mechanized systems. The mechanized system had the highest fuel use efficiency and the lowest CO2 e emissions.