Based on the life cycle assessment (LCA),carbon footprint (CF),being a quantitative expression of greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions from raw material extraction to the end-of-life treatment has been widely used in many industries and products.The standardization provides guidance for carbon footprint accounting.Forest products have dual benefits of carbon storage and substitution effects in climate change mitigation.Owing to China's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,unifying the carbon footprint standards and identifying the potentials of emission reduction of forest products are of great significance to the whole industrial sector.This study focused on the two international leading product carbon footprint standards (PAS 2050 and GHG Protocol),which are highly relevant to each other.A case study was performed in plywood industry which is the pillar of China's wood-based panel industry according to the analyzed standards.The first aim was to quantify the differences in methodological issues including the treatment of system boundaries,cut-off criteria,allocation rules,carbon storage and its delayed emissions.Both cradle-to-gate and cradle-to-grave models were developed to enable a more comprehensive assessment.The obtained carbon footprint of plywood was - 1 123.46 kg CO_2 e and - 1 117.63 kg CO_2 e,respectively,with the PAS 2050 and GHG Protocol.Under the background of emission reduction,the application of PAS 2050 allows plywood manufactures to bear less pressure on reducing emissions.Besides,PAS 2050 provides more specific guidance for assessing the actual environmental impacts.In particular,PAS 2050 provides a method for measuring the delayed emissions of carbon storage.Therefore,both from the perspective of product manufactures and policy makers,PAS 2050 is more preferable for plywood industry.Another purpose of this study was to put forward an improved path for China's wood-based panel industry:①climate change mitigation capacity:landfill can achieve 549.32% of total emission reduction compared with combustion.②Energy structure adjustment:by substituting fossil fuels with wood biomass energy,greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 36.99% ~ 38.24% and the energy consumption structure for the on-site manufacturing can be improved.③ Industrial chain optimization:the strategy of forest-panel integration should be promoted to reduce emissions from the acquisition of wood raw materials,and the pace of recycling and reuse should be speed up to achieve emission reduction from the disposal of waste products.④Market structure adjustment:plywood has been replaced by other wood composite materials like orientated particleboard,which requires less wood raw materials,due to the scarcity of forest resources.There is an urgent need to upgrade the market structure of China's woodbased panel industry.