Biomass Energy, Forests and Climate Library

At the crossroads? A brief analysis of the European wood pellets market in 2022 and 2023

The European wood pellets market has been the world's largest for more than 15 years, driven by EU renewable energy policies authorising EU Member States to subsidise energy companies burning wood and the purchase of wood pellets stoves and boilers. This caused considerable additional logging and air pollution.

But after years of very fast growth, 2022 saw a brutal reversal. According to industry data, the consumption of wood pellets in Europe went down by 6 per cent. This briefing analyses the causes of this change and possible future developments.

Delay, Distract and Deceive: BECCS Developments in South America, Africa and Asia – part 1

Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) technologies are among the most problematic in carbon removal geoengineering. This two-part series analyses the status of BECCS in South America, Africa, and Asia and shows that BECCS is far from being the silver bullet to climate change that some actors portray it to be.

Delay, Distract and Deceive: BECCS Developments in South America, Africa and Asia – part 2

Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) technologies are among the most problematic in carbon removal geoengineering. This two-part series analyses the status of BECCS in South America, Africa, and Asia and shows that BECCS is far from being the silver bullet to climate change that some actors portray it to be.

This part discusses Asia.

Pellet Mill Violations in the South

Pellet plants release harmful pollution, like nitrogen oxide, along with fine particles that can cause respiratory infections and asthma in nearby communities. Often times, these hazardous pellet plants are sited near communities of color that are already overburdened with industrial pollution. These facilities continue a long legacy of environmental injustice in the Southern USA.

“The Devil’s Totality”: Paraguay’s Struggle Against Agribusiness and Monoculture

This briefing paper delves deep into monoculture plantations wreaking the human rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as well as their harrowing impacts on biodiversity and water sources.

“La Totalidad Del Diablo”: La Lucha De Paraguay Contra Los Agronegocios Y Los Monocultivos De Árboles

Este documento informativo profundiza en las plantaciones de monocultivos que atentan contra los derechos humanos de los pueblos indígenas y las comunidades locales, así como en sus desgarradores impactos sobre la biodiversidad y las fuentes de agua.

A Dangerous Gamble: Carbon farming in the proposed EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework

In November 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). It is founded on a dangerous gamble: that carbon-farming activities, trees, wood products
and as-yet-unproven technological approaches can be relied on to remove carbon from the atmosphere and “permanently” store it. Misleadingly titled the carbon removal certification framework, the proposal also allows agricultural activities that purport to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions from the agriculture industry to
be used to balance out fossil carbon released into the atmosphere.

The Proposed EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework Promotes Risky, Unproven Technofixes

In November 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Carbon Removal Certification Framework that sets out a legal process to quantify the carbon stored through unproven carbon capture and storage technologies: Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) and Bioenergy Combustion with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). It also paves the way for temporary carbon storage in agricultural soils, trees and wood products in order to generate carbon credits that may be used, among other things, to offset fossil carbon
emissions (see RZE Briefing 2 and RZE Briefing 3 for more about carbon farming and carbon offsetting)

EU’s CRCF proposal would allow profiteers to make millions from selling dodgy carbon credits

In November 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF). The proposal paves the way to generate carbon credits both through activities that increase storage of carbon in agricultural soils, forests and wood products, as well as by facilities using risky and unproven technological approaches, Direct Air Capture with Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). Those credits can then be used to offset polluters’ greenhouse gas
emissions, thus justifying the release of yet more fossil carbon into the atmosphere.

This RZE Briefing covers carbon offsetting. The European Commission refuses to rule out the use of carbon credits generated under the proposed CRCF for this discredited approach, which has produced millions of phantom credits.