Biomass Energy, Forests and Climate Library

The role of forests in the EU climate policy: are we on the right track?

The European Union (EU) has committed to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This requires a rapidreduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ensuring that any remaining emissions are balanced through CO 2removals. Forests play a crucial role in this plan: they are currently the main option for removing CO 2 from the atmos-phere and additionally, wood use can store carbon durably and help reduce fossil emissions. To stop and reversethe decline of the forest carbon sink, the EU has recently revised the regulation on land use, land-use change and for-estry (LULUCF), and set a target of − 310 Mt CO2e net removals for the LULUCF sector in 2030.

Our findings show that the EU forest sink is quickly developing away from the EU climate targets. Stop-ping and reversing this trend requires rapid implementation of climate-smart forest management, with improvedand more timely monitoring of GHG fluxes. This enhancement is crucial for tracking progress towards the EU’s climatetargets, where the role of forests has become – and is expected to remain – more prominent than ever before.

Burning forest biomass for energy: Not a source of clean energy and harmful to forest ecosystem integrity

The climate crisis is driven mainly by the extensive use of fossil fuels but also by the emissions from widespread deforestation and degradation, plus other factors including cement production (Mackey and Lindenmayer 2014, Masson-Delmotte et al. 2021). In response, a rapid transition toward renewable energy is underway to decarbonize economies globally. Some commentators have proposed that a necessary component of this transition is to burn forest biomass for energy production.

This report argues that a major shift to using forest biomass burning for energy comes with grave risks of highly perverse outcomes, including increased CO2 emissions and negative impacts on forest integrity. A rethink of the role of forest biomass burning for energy in national decarbonization policy is therefore urgently needed. The focus here is on naturally regenerating forests and not plantations.

Significant increase in natural disturbance impacts on European forests since 1950

Over the last decades, the natural disturbance is increasingly putting pressure on European forests. Shifts in disturbance regimes may compromise forest functioning and the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services to society, including their climate change mitigation potential. Although forests are central to many European policies, we lack the long-term empirical data needed for thoroughly understanding disturbance dynamics, modeling them, and developing adaptive management strategies. Here, we present a unique database of >170,000 records of ground-based natural disturbance observations in European forests from 1950 to 2019. Reported data confirm a significant increase in forest disturbance in 34 European countries, causing on an average of 43.8 million m3 of disturbed timber volume per year over the 70-year study period.

Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies

This World Bank report examines how subsidy reform can help safeguard the world’s foundational natural assets—clean air, land, and oceans. These assets are critical for human health and nutrition and underpin much of the global economy. But subsidies for fossil fuels, agriculture, and fisheries are driving the degradation of these assets and harming people, the planet, and economies. This money -numbering in the trillions - could instead be used to finance much-needed climate action in countries across the world.

Biomass power plants and health problems among nearby residents: A case study in Thailand

Electricity generation from biomass has become a boom business. However, currently, concerns over their environmental and health impact have emerged. This study aimed to explore these health problems by studying two small biomass power plants in Thailand.

Health Benefits of Just Energy Transition and Coal Phase-out in Indonesia

This analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a nonprofit founded in Finland, concludes that biomass co-firing may worsen air quality due to the release of ammonia. Research by CREA and the Jakarta-based Institute for Essential Services Reform found levels of air pollution in West Java, where Indramayu power plant is located, were sufficiently high to cut average lifespans in Indonesia’s most populous province.

Cofiring is not abatement: Explaining the “abatement” issue

This new briefing draws attention to the unacceptable acceleration of burning wood together with coal as a so-called form of abatement of fossil fuel emissions. The majority of this wood comes directly from forests. Parties from the UNFCCC must not include this controversial new interpretation of ‘abatement’ in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0), countries plans that state how each country commits to decrease their emissions.

The viability of co-firing biomass waste to mitigate coal plant emissions in Indonesia

Article looks at how much deforestation would likely result from different levels of co-firing wood with coal.

How ‘green’ electricity from wood harms the planet – and people

Many nations have embraced burning wood pellets to produce electricity — under the assumption that it is carbon neutral. But research shows this approach can boost greenhouse-gas emissions and threaten the health of local communities.