World’s largest biomass certifier allows forest destruction and rising emissions under the guise of clean energy
A new international report released today warns that forests worldwide are being cut down and burned for energy, and falsely labeled as “sustainable.” The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP), the world’s most prominent certifier of biomass, is approving wood linked to forest destruction as climate-friendly fuel, despite science showing it emits more carbon than coal.
Power companies worldwide burn wood pellets for energy, while governments funnel billions in subsidies based on the false claim that forest biomass is low-carbon and sustainable. Nearly 100% of wood burned at the UK’s Drax Power Station, the world’s largest biomass plant, is SBP-certified, despite documented environmental impacts in the United States and Canada.
The report, “Sustainable Biomass Program: Certifying the Unsustainable”, uncovers that SBP enables destructive logging, greenwashes high-carbon biomass — all while helping energy companies claim they are going green. Over 85% of industrial wood pellets used in Europe are SBP-certified.
Authored by forest policy expert Richard Robertson and reviewed by Dr. Peter Wood, forestry faculty and lecturer at the University of British Columbia, the report reveals that the SBP routinely fails to protect nature, climate, and communities.
The report was jointly published by environmental organizations in the UK, Japan, and South Korea — the top three importers of biomass wood pellets — and comes amid growing criticism of each country’s continued support for forest biomass. The governments have begun rolling back support: the UK has halved subsidies for Drax Power Station, Japan has ended support for new large-scale biomass projects, and Korea is phasing out key incentives. Yet forest biomass remains heavily subsidized and central to national strategies, diverting public finance away from truly clean renewables like wind and solar.
A case study from British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, illustrates how these flaws result in the logging of primary and old-growth forests, with the wood later certified as “sustainable” under SBP.
The report outlines the following core failures:
- No forest audits: SBP certifies wood pellet mills without site visits, relying on paperwork and using weak risk-based forest certifications (e.g., FSC/PEFC Controlled Wood) intended to avoid the worst forest practices, not to assess forest sustainability.
- Carbon blind: SBP ignores smokestack emissions, allowing companies to offset immediate forest carbon losses with long-term recovery that may take decades.
- Old-growth logging approved: SBP accepts wood from logged-over primary and old-growth forests, despite habitat degradation and high carbon impact.
- No consent: SBP undermines the rights of Indigenous communities to say no to logging their forests.
Environmental groups behind the report are calling on governments to:
- End subsidies for forest biomass and exclude it from renewable energy and green finance frameworks.
- Prohibit sourcing from primary forests and Intact Forest Landscapes.
- Treat biomass combustion emissions as identical to fossil fuel emissions in national and EU energy and carbon pricing policies.
- Mandate due diligence on environmental and human rights impacts across all timber trade.
Download the report here
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