天然纤维原材料获取阶段碳效应研究的若干基础问题

Basic problems arising in study of carbon effects of natural fibers in the raw material acquisition stage

服装产品全生命周期碳效应研究中,目前大多针对纺织服装工业加工阶段,而对原材料获取阶段研究相对较少。本文在棉、麻、丝、毛四种典型天然纤维原材料获取阶段碳效应研究综述基础上,结合纺织服装产业特点,厘清该阶段碳效应研究的专业术语,探讨了碳效应研究中亟待解决的核算结果可比性、碳转移路径及时间因素对核算结果的影响等若干基础问题。研究表明,用于评估纺织服装行业碳效应的专业术语名称及其外延仍需规范,纤维原材料获取阶段核算方法还待统一,且需要梳理总结不同天然纤维在原材料获取阶段的碳转移路径,并确定适用于服装产品的碳效应评价时间边界,从而实现对天然纤维碳效应更加全面、准确的评估。

Since the industrial revolution,the uncontrolled production and living activities of human society have brought about various adverse effects on the global environment,among which the most urgent threat to human beings comes from climate change caused by the greenhouse effect.The Paris Agreement,which marks the agreement of all countries on low-carbon transition,aims to limit the global temperature increase to 2℃in this century while seeking measures to further limit the temperature increase to 1.5℃,and in response,countries around the world are actively exploring low-carbon strategies and planning carbon reduction pathways.The goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 is a requirement for all industries in China to develop corresponding carbon-neutral pathways as soon as possible.Carbon neutrality means that the carbon emissions from all activities within the selected system boundary can be offset with the carbon absorbed through natural or artificial means,i.e.the carbon footprint is zero.There are photosynthetic and soil carbon sequestration activities during natural fibers’raw material acquisition stage,which may be of some value to the carbon neutrality of the textile and apparel industry.However,because the biochemical reactions involved in this stage are more complex compared to industrial processing operations,there are still divergent opinions on the methods of accounting for its carbon footprint,which brings obstacles to the evaluation of the carbon effect of natural fibers in the raw material acquisition stage and even in the whole life cycle.To grasp the progress of research on the carbon effect of natural fibers in the raw material acquisition stage and analyze the existing problems,so as to help promote a more accurate and comprehensive carbon footprint accounting and carbon effect evaluation of natural fibers,cotton,hemp,silk,and wool are selected as the research objects,and the current situation of carbon effect evaluation of the above four typical natural fibers in this stage is discussed by defining the scope of the raw material acquisition stage of natural fibers.The analysis of the literature shows that the research on the carbon absorption of natural fibers is insufficient compared with the research on carbon emission at the stage of raw material acquisition,and the following points can be improved in subsequent related studies according to this paper:(i)the definition of relevant terminology is not clear;(ii)the accounting results lack comparability due to the inconsistency of the system boundary and accounting methods chosen by the existing research,and the quality of production activity data is difficult to be guaranteed;(iii)there are commonalities and differences in the growth characteristics and carbon transfer paths of various types of natural fibers at the stage of raw material acquisition,and a universal theoretical model has not yet been concluded for this point;(iv)the influence of the time factor on the results in carbon footprint accounting has not yet been agreed.In response to the above problems,this paper compares the international standards and reports with high recognition in recent years,and standardizes a section of terms for the study of carbon effect in the raw material stage of natural fibers;then,the carbon transfer pathways of two major classifications of natural fibers,i.e.,cellulose fibers and protein fibers are summarized in this stage,which provides references for building theoretical models;in addition,the influence of time factors on the evaluation results of carbon effect is discussed in terms of the time boundary of the global warming potential(GWP)and the short-term carbon storage time of natural fiber garments.Exploring the carbon neutral path in the textile and apparel industry requires both verifying the industry’s carbon emissions,as well as recognizing the industry’s carbon absorptions,and trying to offset carbon emissions with natural carbon sinks to reduce carbon neutral costs.This paper discusses some of the problems and solution ideas for the evaluation of carbon effect at the stage of natural fiber raw material acquisition,which can provide a reference for improving the carbon footprint accounting at this stage and help achieve a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of the carbon effect of natural fibers.