Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

UK-based sustainability consultancy Forest Carbon — a leader in woodland creation and peatland restoration —  has won the Sustainable Consultancy Award at the Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024 at Sustainability LIVE London… Founded in 2006, Forest Carbon has been responsible for 4% of all woodland creation in the UK and has established 22 of the 244 projects in the validation pipeline of Peatland Code — to protect wetlands that are characterized by their waterlogged soils and layers of peat. Giving sustainability advice to fellow sustainability off the back of winning the award, Steve Prior, one of Forest Carbon’s co-founders, said: “Just get on with it and do it!”

Scientists agree that preserving the Amazon rainforest is vital to combating global warming, but new data on Wednesday indicate huge swathes of the jungle that are most vital to the world’s climate remain unprotected. Nearly 40% of the areas of the Amazon rainforest most critical to curbing climate change have not been granted special government protection, as either nature or indigenous reserves, according to an analysis by nonprofit Amazon Conservation… Only aboveground vegetation was considered, and not underground carbon in roots and soils. The Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) analysis shows that 61% of the peak carbon areas in the Amazon are protected as indigenous reserves or other protected lands, but the rest generally has no official designation.

In Rossinière, a sparsely populated, but vast mountain town, people have been living with nature since time immemorial… “There is 1,000 hectares of wood,” James Gentizon, an engineer and entrepreneur, said, pointing to the forests all around the town center. That wood, he said, could the town’s answer to the problems facing its people—and those around the world: human-made climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels… With modern techniques, the town could be almost fully self-sufficient in filling its energy needs with that wood. The right energy infrastructure would enable Rossinière to collect wood from its forests, pyrolyze it to produce thermal energy and electricity, supply its people with district heating, and provide electricity to the grid.

For as long as scientists have studied trees, they have categorised them into two types based on the sort of wood they make. Softwoods include pines and firs and generally grow faster than hardwoods, like oaks and maples, which can take several decades to mature and make a denser wood. However, recent research has uncovered something completely new: a third category called “midwood”… In hardwoods, like oak and maple, the macrofibril, a fibre composed mainly of cellulose, measures about 16 nanometers (nm) in diameter, while in softwoods like pine and spruce, it’s about 28 nm. These differences could explain why softwoods and hardwoods are different and may help us figure out why some kinds of wood are better at storing carbon than others.

Brazil is enduring its worst drought since nationwide measurements began over seven decades ago, with 59% of the country under stress — an area roughly half the size of the U.S. Major Amazon basin rivers are registering historic lows, and uncontrolled manmade wildfires have ravaged protected areas and spread smoke over a vast expanse, plummeting air quality… Most fires are manmade as part of the deforestation process or for clearing pastures and agricultural land… Fire is not the only problem. More than 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Chapada dos Veadeiros to the Northeast, the Amazon — the world’s most voluminous river — and one of its main tributaries, the Madeira River, have registered new daily record lows at the city of Tabatinga. There’s no end sight — significant rain is not expected until October.

Accurate measurement of carbon surrounding trees can now be made using laser scanners, says Sadeepa Jayathunga. The remote sensing and forest management spatial specialist is one of six leading Scion scientists working on technology for forest monitoring and climate resilience planning. She said she felt confident about presenting her work to Nasa and other industry experts during this week’s ForestSAT 2024 conference in Rotorua. …Already recognised for providing local forestry insights through their work, particularly in the Kaingaroa, Timberlands and Kinleith forests, the scientists focused on radiata pine trees during their pilot run. …Jayathunga said her challenge was to reduce data processing times, and it required processing pipelines that didn’t exist yet. Eventually calibrating a “pipeline” or system that could process the free regional Lidar data provided by regional councils, Jayathunga said she was pleased to make use of the information.

LONDON — The cooling towers of the giant Drax power station loom over rural North Yorkshire as a reminder of Britain’s grimy past – and as a beacon of its efforts to create a net zero economy by 2050. The power plant was once one of the largest coal-burners in Europe, and a lightning rod for campaigners against fossil fuels in the UK’s electricity system. Today, its owners claim to be the UK’s largest renewable energy power plant – burning 7m tonnes of biomass pellets a year. But this power plant’s green revolution is not without its sceptics. Green groups and climate scientists insist Drax remains the largest single source of carbon emissions in the UK, and that its FTSE 250 owners should not have been allowed to claim billions of pounds in renewable energy subsidies. …The battle between the two camps has reignited as the government prepares to decide whether to extend a subsidy scheme.

WASHINGTON — EARTHDAY.ORG, the global organizer of Earth Day, observed annually on April 22, announces the global theme for Earth Day 2025: Our Power, Our Planet. 2025 marks the 55th anniversary of EARTH DAY, and to honor this milestone, we are inviting our one billion supporters in 192 countries to unite behind renewable energy, with the goal of tripling the global generation of clean electricity by 2030. We urge everyone to explore smart energy choices for their families and to advocate for an expedited and rapid deployment of renewables from local and national governments, industries, and businesses. Renewable energy comes from replenishable sources, like the sun, which do not produce greenhouse gasses and therefore do not drive climate change. It is energy that ends our reliance on fossil fuels and the damage they cause to both our environment and human health.

Ottawa, Ont.-based carbon reduction company Invert Inc., and Merida, YU-based carbon project developer, The Earth Lab, have announced the successful first issuance of more than 380,000 high-quality, North American Improved Forest Management (IFM) Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRT) to market. Invert said in a press release the issuance marks a significant milestone in the organizations’ projects in the Yucatan Peninsula and their shared strategy to develop high-quality carbon projects to combat climate change, promote sustainable development, and empower local communities. Bonos Laguna Síjil Noh-Há — a collaborative endeavor between Invert, Earth Lab, and the local ejido community — has been verified under the Climate Action Reserve’s Mexico Forest Protocol version 3.0. This verification confirms the project’s impact in preserving and enhancing forest carbon stocks through sustainable management practices.

The world is facing a timber crisis as climate change pushes cropland further north, warns a new study. Global warming will move and reduce the land suitable for growing food and timber – putting the production of both vital resources into direct competition, say Cambridge University scientists. If no action is taken to combat climate change a quarter of the world’s forestry land – equivalent to the size of India – will become more suitable for agriculture by the end of the century, according to the new report… Most forests for timber production are currently in the northern hemisphere in the US, Canada, China and Russia. The study found that 90% of all current forestry land that will become agriculturally productive by 2100 will be in those four countries.

Climate change will move and reduce the land suitable for growing food and timber, putting the production of these two vital resources into direct competition, a new study has found. The sight of vineyards in Britain is becoming more common as hotter summers create increasingly suitable conditions for growing grapes. But behind this success story is a sobering one: climate change is shifting the regions of the world suitable for growing crops. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have uncovered a looming issue: as the land suitable for producing our food moves northwards, it will put a squeeze on the land we need to grow trees. …They say that the increasing competition between land for timber production and food production due to climate change has, until now, been overlooked—but is set to be an emerging issue as our demand for both continues to increase.

Open letter to Ed Miliband, Labour Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, from 41 groups says wood-burning biomass plants are putting forests and biodiversity at risk. More than 40 green groups have called on Miliband to scrap plans to pay billions in subsidies to the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire for it to keep burning wood pellets imported from overseas forests. …groups from across Europe and the US say they are “deeply concerned” about the UK government’s plans to foot the cost of extending the subsidy scheme, which supports the UK’s most polluting power plant from 2027 until the end of the decade. …“These power stations are burning trees from some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in the southern USA, Canada and Europe, with devastating impacts on communities, wildlife and the climate. This puts at risk forests and wildlife in many of our countries,” the letter says.

BRAZIL — Extreme weather has made 2023 virtually certain to be the warmest year on record, signaling unprecedented climate and biodiversity crises. Brazil, the world’s most biodiverse country, with two hotspots and complex social and economic layers, has experienced escalating environmental degradation over the past years. Alarming rates of native vegetation loss, wildfires, severe and prolonged droughts, and heatwaves have adversely impacted several Brazilian ecosystems and societies. Despite the country’s decisive role in global carbon neutrality, bridging the gap between Brazil’s discourse on the international stage and its concrete actions at home remains a significant challenge. This correspondence underscores the urgent imperative for national engagement and commitment to halt and mitigate these crises.

Forestry sector groups are welcoming the government’s updated settings of the Emissions Trading Scheme as instilling much-needed confidence in the scheme. The government has been working out how to improve the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as part of its election promises. An oversupply of New Zealand units has contributed to a depreciated price of carbon, which threatened New Zealand’s ability to meet climate targets and emissions budgets. Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced this week it would keep the current auction floor price, cost containment reserve price and reserve volumes of New Zealand units. But in efforts to drive up that low carbon price it was going to halve reduce the number of units available between 2025 and 2029, from 45 million to 21 million. “Reducing the number of units will likely see the carbon price rise,” Watts said. …New Zealand Institute of Forestry president James Treadwell said there was optimism about the Government’s approach in stabilising the market.

International researchers from Finland, Germany, South Africa, and Ethiopia report that deforestation during the last two decades induced a higher warming and cloud level rise than that caused by climate change, which threatens biodiversity and water supply in African montane forests. …The rise of the cloud level decreases water harvesting, as when the cloud touches the forest canopy, the fog (water) is deposited on the plant and land surfaces. If the cloud base is higher, this phenomenon does not take place, clarifies Prof. Petri Pellikka, the director of Taita Research Station. The phenomenon also requires that mountain tops are forested as it increases the surface area of land cover, and in the forest, water is stored in the trees and soil better than on open lands. The study sites were located in the highlands of Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and South Africa.