Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The European Parliament voted last month to recognize woody biomass as a renewable fuel on par with solar and wind, despite mounting evidence of its negative impact on climate change.
The credentials of woody biomass as a truly renewable energy source have increasingly been called into question.
Last February, a letter signed by over five hundred scientists was delivered to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other world leaders calling for the end of woody biomass subsidies. The letter argued,
Forests store carbon–approximately half the weight of dry wood is carbon. When wood is harvested and burned, much and often more than half of the live wood in trees harvested is typically lost in harvesting and processing before it can supply energy, adding carbon to the atmosphere without replacing fossil fuels. Burning wood is also carbon-inefficient, so the wood burned for energy emits more carbon up smokestacks than using fossil fuels. Overall, for each kilowatt hour of heat or electricity produced, using wood initially is likely to add two to three times as much carbon to the air as using fossil fuels.
Despite such concerns, Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s executive vice president, argued at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) that the feasibility of meeting EU renewable targets depends upon woody biomass as a stopgap measure.
In an interview with Mongabay, a nonprofit conservation news service, Timmermans explained that utilizing “zero-carbon renewables” like solar and wind is “the prime objective” of the EU, but rapid transition requires that some energy sources which are not “full renewables,” such as woody biomass, also need to be part of the energy mix.
In accordance with this view, on September 14 the European Parliament voted to continue recognizing woody biomass as a form of renewable energy, therefore maintaining the public subsidies.
This decision was celebrated by wood pellet producers.
A statement released by Maryland-based Enviva, the world’s largest maker and exporter of wood pellets, contended, “One thing is clear: wood-based biomass is a building block of the energy transition and, despite the vote of left-green Members of the European Parliament, can still be counted as renewable energy. The new directive will set the necessary framework to achieve the greatest possible CO2 reduction effect.”
To date, over €16 billion (about US$16 billion) has been paid in subsidies to wood pellet producers such as Enviva.
Going forward, the EU has promised to cap the amount of subsidies which woody biomass companies can receive.
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