The CO2 footprint of paper manuals

Marvin Blome – 01.08.2024.

Find out how much CO2 is generated during the production of manuals. Is switching to digital manuals the way to a sustainable future?

Manuals are everywhere. Whether it's an electrical appliance, piece of furniture or software. In most cases, you will find a printed manual next to your object of choice. Millions of printed manuals exist worldwide and - despite the digital transformation - remain the standard. But what about sustainability? We take a look at the CO₂ footprint of manuals.

Paper production

Let's first take a look at the CO₂ emissions from paper production. As manuals can vary greatly in size and number of pages, we compare different cases: From 20 to 200 pages and from DIN A6 to DIN A3. In comparison: Letter size (8.5 inches by 11 inches) is similar to the A4 paper size. A4 paper measures 210 millimeters by 297 millimeters, which is approximately 8.27 inches by 11.69 inches.

The calculation is based on many different variables. The sources for each assumption are linked directly to make the calculation as transparent as possible. First, we determine the weight of the manuals. This can then be used to calculate the CO₂ emissions. We use the following formula for the weight:

(The Formulas were created in adoc Studio)

According to Calculates, the weight per sheet of paper with a grammage of 80 g/m2 is between 1.225 g for DIN A6 and 10g for DIN A3. The production of 1 kg of paper causes between 0.7 kg of CO₂ (recycled paper) and 1.2 kg of CO₂ (paper made from virgin fiber). To simplify matters, we take the average value of 1kg CO₂ per 1kg paper (source: ezeep).

This means that the paper production for a DIN A6 manual is between 0.02 kg CO₂ (20 pages) and 0.24 kg CO₂ (200 pages). For a DIN A3 manual, the emissions are between 0.20 kg CO₂ (20 pages) and 2.00 kg CO₂ (200 pages). The complete table can be found at the end of the article.

Emissions during printing

Now the paper is printed. This also produces CO₂ emissions. According to D-velop, approx. 5.15g of CO₂ are produced per sheet of A4 paper.

To compare the total area, let's look at the size ratios of the DIN formats. DIN A3 is twice as large as DIN A4, which in turn is twice as large as DIN A5, which is twice as large as DIN A6. The emissions per sheet of paper are therefore considered in relation to the format. This results in the following formula:

In reality, indirect emissions would be added at this point. However, we will not include these in the calculation.

After all, the delivery would take place in any case in order to bring the product to the customer. The manual is only a "stowaway" at this point. We also want to leave the recycling of the manuals out of the calculation, as numerous variables are included here that would only dilute the calculation (degree of recycling, storage period of the manuals, etc.). We also disregard the use of machines, the transportation of raw materials to the print shop and the electricity used to produce the manual in order to keep the calculation as clear and concise as possible.

This results in the following values.The table compares the CO₂ emissions for recycled paper (left-hand value) and virgin fiber paper (right-hand value) for each format and number of pages.

	A6	A5	A4	A3
20 Pages	0,04 - 0,06 kg CO₂	0,09 - 0,11 kg CO₂	0,17 - 0,22 kg CO₂	0,35 - 0,45 kg CO₂
40 Pages	0,09 - 0,11 kg CO₂	0,17 - 0,22 kg CO₂	0,34 - 0,44- kg CO₂	0,69 - 0,89 kg CO₂
60 Pages	0,13 - 0,17 kg CO₂	0,26 - 0,33 kg CO₂	0,52 - 0,66 kg CO₂	1,04 - 1,34 kg CO₂
80 Pages	0,17 - 0,22 kg CO₂	0,34 - 0,44 kg CO₂	0,69 - 0,88 kg CO₂	1,38 - 1,78 kg CO₂
100 Pages	0,21 - 0,28 kg CO₂	0,43 - 0,55 kg CO₂	0,86 - 1,10 kg CO₂	1,73 - 2,23 kg CO₂
120 Pages	0,26 - 0,33 kg CO₂	0,52 - 0,66 kg CO₂	1,03 - 1,32 kg CO₂	2,08 - 2,68 kg CO₂
140 Pages	0,30 - 0,39 kg CO₂	0,60 - 0,77 kg CO₂	1,20 - 1,54 kg CO₂	2,42 - 3,12 kg CO₂
160 Pages	0,34 - 0,44 kg CO₂	0,69 - 0,88 kg CO₂	1,37 - 1,77 kg CO₂	2,77 - 3,57 kg CO₂
180 Pages	0,39 - 0,50 kg CO₂	0,77 - 0,99 kg CO₂	1,55 - 1,99 kg CO₂	3,12 - 4,02 kg CO₂
200 Pages	0,43 - 0,55 kg CO₂	0,86 - 1,10 kg CO₂	1,72 - 2,21 kg CO₂	3,46 - 4,46 kg CO₂

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Extrapolation

At this point, we want to breathe a little more life into the figures. Let's take a manual, for example, which was printed in DIN A4 on recycled paper and contains 100 pages. Using the table, we can now see that the production of this manual generated approx. 0.86 kg of CO₂.

The value is based on the following calculation:

Weight per sheet of A4 paper: 4.9 g
CO₂ emissions per kg of recycled paper: 0.7 kg CO₂
CO₂ emissions for printing one sheet of paper: 5.145 g CO₂
Weight of 100 pages in DIN A4: 4.9 g X 100 pages X 0.001 = 0.49 kg
CO₂ emissions from paper production: 0.49 kg X 0.7kg CO₂ = 0.34 kg CO₂
CO₂ emissions for printing 100 pages of A4 paper: 5.145 g CO₂ X 100 pages X 0.001 = 0.52 kg CO₂
Total emissions for 100 pages of A4 paper: 0.86 kg CO₂

The production of 10,000 copies of the handbook caused 8.6 tons of CO₂. For comparison: According to Quarks, a commuter produces about 1.5 tons of CO₂ per year. This means that the CO₂ impact of the handbook production corresponds to the annual commute of 5.7 commuters.

Fun Fact: This is how DALL-E imagines a 100-page manual

Attachments

List of average emissions from paper production

	A6	A5	A4	A3
20 Pages	0,02 kg CO₂	0,05 kg CO₂	0,10 kg CO₂	0,20 kg CO₂
40 Pages	0,05 kg CO₂	0,10 kg CO₂	0,20 kg CO₂	0,40 kg CO₂
60 Pages	0,07 kg CO₂	0,15 kg CO₂	0,29 kg CO₂	0,60 kg CO₂
80 Pages	0,10 kg CO₂	0,20 kg CO₂	0,39 kg CO₂	0,80 kg CO₂
100 Pages	0,12 kg CO₂	0,25 kg CO₂	0,49 kg CO₂	1,00 kg CO₂
120 Pages	0,15 kg CO₂	0,29 kg CO₂	0,59 kg CO₂	1,20 kg CO₂
140 Pages	0,17 kg CO₂	0,24 kg CO₂	0,69 kg CO₂	1,40 kg CO₂
160 Pages	0,20 kg CO₂	0,39 kg CO₂	0,78 kg CO₂	1,60 kg CO₂
180 Pages	0,22 kg CO₂	0,44 kg CO₂	0,88 kg CO₂	1,80 kg CO₂
200 Pages	0,24 kg CO₂	0,49 kg CO₂	0,98 kg CO₂	2,00 kg CO₂

List of average emissions during printing

	A6	A5	A4	A3
20 Pages	0,03 kg CO₂	0,05 kg CO₂	0,10 kg CO₂	0,21 kg CO₂
40 Pages	0,05 kg CO₂	0,10 kg CO₂	0,21 kg CO₂	0,41 kg CO₂
60 Pages	0,08 kg CO₂	0,15 kg CO₂	0,31 kg CO₂	0,62 kg CO₂
80 Pages	0,10 kg CO₂	0,21 kg CO₂	0,41 kg CO₂	0,82 kg CO₂
100 Pages	0,13 kg CO₂	0,26 kg CO₂	0,52 kg CO₂	1,03 kg CO₂
120 Pages	0,15 kg CO₂	0,31 kg CO₂	0,62 kg CO₂	1,24 kg CO₂
140 Pages	0,18 kg CO₂	0,36 kg CO₂	0,72 kg CO₂	1,44 kg CO₂
160 Pages	0,21 kg CO₂	0,41 kg CO₂	0,82 kg CO₂	1,65 kg CO₂
180 Pages	0,23 kg CO₂	0,46 kg CO₂	0,93 kg CO₂	1,86 kg CO₂
200 Pages	0,26 kg CO₂	0,52 kg CO₂	1,03 kg CO₂	2,06 kg CO₂