“Sustainable” biomass: A paper tiger when it comes to reducing carbon emissions

ABSTRACT

As the tragedy in Ukraine deepens, it’s clear that the world should end its dependency on Russian oil. It will be ironic, however, if nations disentangling themselves from this compromised energy source instead turn to another energy source with destructive impacts: harvesting and burning forest wood for fuel, which increases carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels, and degrades forests.

KEYWORDS:

• Biomass
• wood-burning
• global warming
• climate crisis
• renewable energy
• fossil fuel
• bioenergy
• wood pellets
• Russia
• sustainability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes

1. See, e.g. claims about carbon neutrality by European pellet producer Graanul Invest. https://graanulinvest.com/heat-power/.

2. See, e.g. Thornley, P., Röder, M., Taylor, D., and Welfle. A. 2022. “Biomass and bioenergy: a vital component of the UK’s green economy?” Supergen Bioenergy. https://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Slides-Biomas-and-Bioenergy-P-Thornley-16February21.pdf.

3. See “Sweden harvests forests that the EU wants to protect: ‘A council is needed.’ ” Dagens Nyheter, at https://www.dn.se/sverige/sverige-avverkar-skog-som-eu-vill-skydda-behovs-ett-radslag/.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Mary S. Booth

Mary S. Booth is director of the Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI), a US-based NGO working on forests, climate, and energy. An ecosystem scientist by training, she received her doctoral degree in ecology at Utah State University, focusing on biogeochemistry and plant ecophysiology. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Ecosystems Center of the Woods Hole Biological Laboratory, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. She currently directs PFPI’s science and advocacy work on greenhouse gas, air pollutant, and forest impacts of biomass energy and has provided science and policy support to activists, researchers, and policymakers across the US and EU.