Biomass Energy, Forests and Climate Library

Bioenergy: A Roadmap to Forest Destruction

As world leaders wrapped up COP30 in Belém last year, a new climate roadmap was unveiled: one to transition away from fossil fuels, and another to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. These goals are meant to work hand in hand. But there’s a growing problem: the rise of forest bioenergy threatens to undermine both efforts, putting forests and the climate at risk. Members of the Biomass Action Network are currently in Bonn for the UN’s mid-year climate meetings, to raise the alarm that bioenergy is nothing but a roadmap to destruction.

Bioenergy in Countries’ Climate Plans – Briefing

An Analysis of Biomass, Bioenergy and BECCS in Nationally Determined Contributions and Long-Term Strategies

Bioenergy in Countries’ Climate Plans – Full Report

Full Report - The Role of Bioenergy and BECCS in Nationally Determined Contributions and Long Term Strategies

The Human Rights Impacts of Large-scale ‘Modern’ Biomass Energy

This briefing examines the human rights impacts of large-scale (‘modern’) biomass energy that burns wood in centralized heat and power generators. As the industry rapidly expands, growing evidence highlights serious human rights concerns throughout the biomass supply chain. The following examples illustrate negative impacts occurring worldwide - impacts that are likely to intensify unless robust action is taken to halt the biomass industry.

This briefing includes case studies from Chile, Brazil, the USA, Sweden, Ghana, Mozambique, Uganda, Indonesia, Nepal and Thailand.

Why the EU must stop subsidies for burning trees: A policy mistake that needs to be corrected

More than 40 NGOs have come together to call on the EU to stop incentivising biomass in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). They have produced a shared position paper calling on the EU to stop incentivising biomass in EU renewable energy and climate legislation because it makes the climate crisis worse; damages the economy and undermines energy security; increases biodiversity loss and the destruction of forests; and worsens air pollution.

South Korea to Reduce Subsidies for Biomass Energy, Explained

On December 18, 2024, the South Korean government announced a major reform of public support for biomass energy, phasing down indirect subsidies known as Renew able Energy Certificates (RECs) for most biomass categories. While this change largely heralds a step in the right direction to mitigate the controversial forest biomass, slow phase-out timelines and loopholes continue to threaten global forests.

Financing biomass mega polluters with sustainability-linked loans

An investigation (https://mississippitoday.org/2025/01/15/amid-years-of-pollution-violations-in-the-deep-south-drax-received-over-700-million-in-green-loans/) by The Examination, The Toronto Star and the Mississippi Today, revealed that some of the world’s mega polluters (including biomass burner and pellet producer, Drax) have received millions in “green” loans. Since 2018, banks have issued $1.5 trillion in low-interest “sustainability-linked loans” (SLLs) to large corporations to motivate climate-friendly practices. The investigation found that wood biomass companies alone received over $76 billion in SLLs between 2018 and 2023. During this same period, Drax was charged millions in fines and settlements for violating state pollution laws with its wood pellet plants in the USA. In this webinar the Biomass Action Network is joined by Sasha Chavkin and Mago Torres from The Examination and Alex Rozier from Mississippi Today, in a webinar and Q&A session.

From Forest to Furnace: The Impact of Wood Biomass Energy

The burning of wood in power and heat installations as well as the industrial use of charcoal are expanding rapidly worldwide. This development is driven by a combination of renewable energy targets and subsidies, coal phaseout policies that support wood biomass as an alternative. But, as shown in this report, the industrial-scale burning of wood for energy has severe impacts on forests and other ecosystems. This paper looks at wood biomass energy developments in Europe, North America, East Asia, Africa, and South America.

What is the real link between biomass energy and forest fires?

This new study intends to answer the questions; Has the installation of multiple biomass power stations throughout mainland Portugal contributed to reducing or increasing the risk of forest fires? We focus on a specific case: the Fundão Biomass Power Plant, located in the Cova da Beira region, between the Gardunha and Estrela mountain ranges, in central Portugal.