Papermaking industry is a high-energy-consuming industry with long supply chain. The growth of paper product demand further intensifies the need of energy consumption. Energy saving through the full supply chain has become a focal point for long-term sustainable development of the papermaking industry. This paper reviews the advances in life cycle analysis for the papermaking industry in recent years. All the stages from the full supply chain are involved to give a panoramic overview of the papermaking industry. The object of this paper is to provide scientific basis to industry and decision-makers with profound understanding of the energy consumption and energy saving potential in a life cycle perspective. (C) 2018 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.