Biomass Energy, Forests and Climate Library

Research paper that considers whether current State aid rules for solid biomass are still fit for purpose, which reveals an important discrepancy between the specific way in which biomass support is treated by the current rules and the rationale and objectives of the current State aid regime for renewable energy.

A scientific and legal analysis of why “sustainability” protections in the EU’s recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) provide cover for continued logging, GHG emissions, and forest damage from biomass harvesting.

Review of evidence on the impact of demand for bioenergy on forests, concluding that the available evidence doesn’t support assumptions that bioenergy demand will improve forest management and encourage new planting and that oolicymakers should not assume that forest bioenergy will significantly mitigate climate change.

Europe-wide analysis of (1) the cost of energy (LCOE); (2) network costs; (3) external costs of energy; (4) energy taxes; (5) energy subsidies; and, (6) energy investments, concluding that biomass energy and fossil fuels have the highest energy costs.

A film exploring the negative impacts of biomass energy generation in Portugal.

An analysis of the possible impacts of burning Namibian bushwood in Hamburg, highlighting that it would involve increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Full report in German.

An analysis of the possible impacts of burning Namibian bushwood in Hamburg, highlighting that it would involve increases in greenhouse gas emissions.

Literature review of the impacts of burning woody biomass in Germany, which concludes that it is damaging to the climate.

Investigation into an EIB loan to a biomass plant in Galicia that highlights due diligence failures, resulting in the financing of a biomass plant that is below minimum efficiency standards and is environmentally damaging.

Briefing about the definitions and impacts of forestry and wood-industry residues, showing that the definitions are dangerously broad and hence that limiting subsidies to burning wood from 'residues', let alone so-called ‘low-value’ wood, cannot protect climate, forests, and biodiversity.

Briefing for UK parliamentarians on why biomass should not be treated as a renewable energy source

Biomass is jeopardizing Korea’s renewable energy sector and negating global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The rapid growth of biomass energy in Korea has shown a threatening trajectory, yet the root causes of this predicament remains unattended. This report aims to enhance the understanding of biomass power policy, and to analyze major socioeconomic, political and environmental drivers of problems associated with biomass power in South Korea. In this report, Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) has included key policy recommendations to address the problems associated with biomass.

Two interactive maps one on pellet facilities and the other on bioenergy plants have been produced from openly available sources and information provided members of the EPN Forests, Climate and Biomass working group worldwide. This is a constant work in progress and the maps will be updated regularly as new information becomes available. You are welcome to contribute to our data gathering or provide any new or updated data.

There is a new and growing threat to the world’s forests, people and climate – the biomass energy industry. Wood pellets are the major commodity feeding this industry.
This report outlines the evolution of this threat and maps its frightening expansion in scale and global extent now and over the next ten years.

Biomass is often described as a clean, renewable fuel and a greener alternative to coal and other fossil fuels for producing electricity. But recent science shows that many forms of biomass especially from forests produce higher carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels. In particular, a growing body of peer-reviewed, scientific studies shows that burning wood from whole trees in power plants to produce electricity can increase carbon emissions relative to fossil fuels for many decades anywhere from 35 to 100 years.1 This time period is significant: climate policy imperatives require dramatic short-term reductions in greenhouse gases, and these emissions will persist in the atmosphere well past the time when significant reductions are needed.