Biomass Energy, Forests and Climate Library

Press Release: Grave doubts about Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)

A letter to UK Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Land Reform and Minister for Energy, Connectivity, and the Islands.

Ngodwana Biomass Energy Project: Can wood sourced from industrial timber plantations ever be sustainable?

Increasingly around the world pulp and paper mills are installing over-sized, dedicated biomass boilers alongside more traditional cogeneration units to take advantage of strong support and incentives for producing electricity from burning wood. These developments are essentially stand-alone power stations that require more biomass than the waste produced by the pulp mills they are built next to, meaning that additional wood must be brought into the mill to be burned. Sappi’s Ngodwana Mill and biomass plant in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, due to begin operating in 2022, and is a good example of this trend.

Assessing the potential for unaccounted emissions from bioenergy and the implications for forests: The United States and global

Development of the bioenergy sector is being actively pursued in many countries as a means to reduce climate change and fulfill international climate agreements such as the Paris Agreement. Although biomass for energy production (especially wood pellets) can replace carbon-intensive fossil fuels, its net greenhouse gas impact varies, and the production of wood pellets can also lead to intensification in forest harvests and reduction of forest carbon stocks.

What is the EU Regulation on deforestation-free products and how can it be improved?

The proposed EU Regulation on deforestation-free products is a great step forward in European Union efforts to end imports of commodities that destroy forests world-wide.

Six problems with BECCS

The climate emergency is becoming a climate crisis. Governments are responding by looking for technological fixes, and are giving particular attention to Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). But the belief that BECCS would remove emissions is based on the faulty assumption that bioenergy is carbon neutral. This is not the case, especially when taking into account the dwindling time left to keep global warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C. BECCS would also have massive social, environmental and economic costs. Its false promise of a quick technical fix is heavily promoted by fossil fuels interests, and it must not be allowed to distract from the urgent need to stop burning fossil fuels and to protect and restore forests, soils and other ecosystems.

ILUSÃO INSUSTENTÁVEL / Unsustainable illusion

O filme aborda a temática da proliferação de centrais de biomassa pelo território fomentada pelos poderes públicos e questiona os impactes ambientais, económicos e sociais de uma atividade altamente subsidiada pelos consumidores de eletricidade. Face à elevada probabilidade de não existirem resíduos florestais em quantidade suficiente para as necessidades, esta indústria já está a recorrer a madeira de boa qualidade colocando em causa a sustentabilidade das outras atividades económicas ligadas à exploração das manchas florestais que ainda estão a salvo dos fogos rurais.

The film covers the issue of the proliferation of biomass plants throughout the territory promoted by public authorities and discusses the environmental, economic and social impacts of an activity highly subsidized by electricity consumers. Given the high probability that there are not enough.

Portuguese with English subtitles.

Joint Wood Energy Inquiry

The UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section, with the encouragement of the Joint ECE/FAO Working Party on Forest Statistics, and in collaboration with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Commission (EC) decided in June 2006 to develop and launch a "Joint Wood Energy Enquiry". Wood energy data are often scattered or lost within renewable energy statistics, making it difficult to assess and evaluate the real role of wood as a renewable source of energy. The Enquiry aims at improving knowledge and understanding of wood energy consumption and tries to shed light on the potential and future perspective of wood energy in the region. It collects data of both sources and uses of wood and promotes cooperation between the energy and forest sectors, providing a comprehensive framework on the role of wood energy in Member States.

Briefing on Vattenfall’s wood bioenergy investments and plans

Vattenfall is a Swedish energy company which, for many years, was amongst the EU’s top three CO2 emitters from burning fossil fuels. In 2018, the company adopted the motto “fossil free living within one generation” and since then, has started to slowly phase out coal burning. In order to do this however, the company has begun to burn ever increasing amounts of forest wood. Vattenfall burns forest wood in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands and has large expansion plans, especially in the Netherlands (Diemen) and Germany (Berlin). Vattenfall is also a trader in wood chips and wood pellets. Briefing originally from 2022, but updated in 2024

Importing Deforestation: Forest-Risk Commodity Supply Chains and Due Diligence Legislation in South Korea

Every year, around 6 million hectares of forests vanish due to deforestation. 95% of this deforestation happens in tropical regions, with Latin America and Southeast Asia accounting for 59% and 28% respectively. Beef is the primary forestrisk commodity causing deforestation in Latin America, whilepalm oil, pulp, and paper are the major culprits in Southeast Asia. As demand for these commodities has grown globally, aggressive deforestation is taking place to secure land to produce these commodities.