Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Despite global commitments to halt deforestation by 2030, only eight of the top 20 countries with the highest rate of tropical deforestation have quantified targets on forests in their national climate action plans, also known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This is one of the key findings of the UN-REDD report Raising Ambition, Accelerating Action. …The report’s analysis reveals that current NDC pledges submitted between 2017 and 2023 do not meet the global ambition to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. While 11 of the NDCs contain quantified targets relating to afforestation and reforestation, mitigating climate change requires reducing deforestation first, as it takes many years to capture the carbon lost through deforesting an equivalent area through afforestation and restoration. To further harmonise national efforts, it is also crucial for NDCs to integrate existing national strategies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), which 15 of the 20 countries have adopted.

As the climate crisis intensifies, Russia is pinning its hopes on its vast forests to make up for its carbon emissions — the world’s fourth-highest — and even help the country become a global leader in carbon absorption. But the country’s substandard conservation and ineffective forestry practices, combined with the impacts of climate change itself, make it more likely that Russia’s forests will become a carbon source rather than a sink in the next decade. “If the trend of increasing wildfires continues … then within the next one or two decades, Russian forests will become a carbon source,” a Russian forestry expert said. And according to the expert’s estimates, about a quarter of all logging in Russia targets its largely untouched old-growth forests. …Researchers from the Moscow-based Izrael Institute of Global Climate and Ecology found that Russia’s greenhouse gas emissions appear to be higher than what its ecosystems can absorb. 

Global workwear textile manufacturer Carrington Textiles, along with its joint venture in Portugal, MGC, said it has achieved significant carbon emission reductions following the installation of a biomass boiler at the site last year. This initiative has allowed the factory to produce 95% of the steam needed for manufacturing while reducing natural gas consumption by 70%, marking a substantial step towards more sustainable textile production practices. MGC’s biomass boiler uses responsibly sourced wood chips from local forests within a 50 km radius of the factory, all certified by SURE (Sustainable Resources), according to the company. This raw material consists of leftover wood intended for the paper industry that needs to be removed to prevent fires. The ash generated in the process is used as soil fertiliser after being treated to avoid soil contamination. This new equipment is carbon neutral and has allowed the textile manufacturer to decrease its overall CO2 emissions by 45% compared to 2022.

Forests are great carbon sinks. Globally, forests remove nearly all of the two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide that is currently being removed from the atmosphere every year. These days, companies can buy “carbon credits” for the carbon that is stored in living forests and offset this against their own greenhouse gas emissions. International financiers estimate that by 2050, Africa could be selling US$1.5 trillion in carbon credits per year, mainly from its forests. Environmental social scientists Constance L. McDermott, Eric Mensah Kumeh and Mark Hirons are co-authors of a report on global forest governance for the International Union of Forest Research Organisations. They have found that buying and selling forest carbon as a commodity is dangerous if it is prioritised over the other environmental and social uses of forests. It could even result in environmental damage and the displacement of forest-dependent people.

Bjorn Lomborg

We constantly hear that because climate change is real we should “follow the science” and end fossil fuel use. We hear it both from politicians who favour swift carbon cuts and from natural scientists themselves, as when the editor-in-chief of Nature insists “The science is clear — fossil fuels must go.” The assertion is convenient for politicians because it allows them to avoid responsibility for the many costs and downsides of climate policy, painting these as inevitable results of diligently following the scientific evidence. But it is false. It confounds climate science with climate policy. …The story told by activist politicians and climate campaigners suggests there is nothing but benefit to ending fossil fuels — and a hellscape if nothing is done. But the reality is that life has improved dramatically in recent centuries largely because of the immense increase in available energy that has come mostly from fossil fuels.

The market for carbon offsets shrank dramatically last year, falling from $1.9bn in 2022 to $723m in 2023, a new report has found. The drop came after a series of scientific and media reports found many offsetting schemes do nothing to mitigate the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. The research by Ecosystem Marketplace, found the market had shrunk 61%. It attributed the contraction to a flurry of studies and media reports that concluded millions of offsets were “worthless”, with some projects linked to human rights concerns. Each carbon credit is meant to represent the reduction or removal of one tonne of CO₂ emissions removals or reductions. …Offsets generated by schemes protecting rainforests, the most popular type, lost 62% of their value between 2022 and 2023. These schemes were the focus of a joint investigation by the Guardian, which found more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets from a large sample of projects from Verra are worthless.

MEXICO CITY — The number of heat-related howler monkeys deaths in Mexico has risen to 157, the government said, with a tragically small number of the primates treated or recovering. Meanwhile, an animal park in northern Mexico confirmed it has received reports that at least a hundred parrots, bats and other animals have died, apparently of dehydration. A heat dome — an area of strong high pressure centered over the southern Gulf of Mexico and northern Central America — has blocked clouds from forming and caused extensive sunshine and hot temperatures all across Mexico. Last week, environmentalists had reported that 138 of the midsize primates, known for their roaring vocal calls, had been found dead in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco since May 16. Almost two-thirds of the country are expected to see highs of 45 degrees Celsius on Monday. …But with heat, fires, and deforestation hitting the trees where the howler monkeys live, it was unclear whether even releasing them could ensure their survival.

Two major carbon offset projects in the Brazilian Amazon, whose credits have been sold to companies like GOL Airlines, Nestlé, Toshiba and PwC, may have been used to launder timber from illegally deforested areas. The conclusion comes from an analysis by the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA), a Netherlands-based nonprofit founded by prosecutors and investigators that investigates emitters of climate-warming greenhouse gases. Brazilian authorities had already launched timber laundering probes in the areas covered by CCCA’s analysis, which resulted in the suspension of logging authorizations. The owner of a company responsible for one of these projects has a prior conviction for timber laundering. CCCA made the analysis at Mongabay’s request after an anonymous source highlighted the participation of people convicted of timber laundering in the projects.

The broiling summer of 2023 was the hottest in the Northern Hemisphere in more than 2,000 years, a new study found. When the temperatures spiked last year, numerous weather agencies said it was the hottest month, summer and year on record. But those records only go back to 1850 at best because it’s based on thermometers. Now scientists can go back to the modern western calendar’s year one …but have found no hotter northern summer than last year’s. The study uses a well-established method and record of more than 10,000 tree rings to calculate summertime temperatures for each year since the year 1. Looking at the temperature records, especially the last 150 years, lead author Jan Esper noticed that while they are generally increasing, they tend to do so with slow rises and then giant steps, like what happened last year. He said those steps are often associated with a natural El Nino…

Leading Japanese companies, NYK Line, NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers, Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and British renewable energy business, Drax Group, have signed a new memorandum of understanding to develop both the world’s first biomass-fuelled ship (bioship) and the technology that could power it. Biomass is playing a growing role in Japan’s transition from fossil fuel power generation to low carbon and renewable electricity, and the country’s demand for biomass pellets, sourced primarily from North America and composed of sawmill and forestry residues, is increasing. Drax produces biomass pellets in both the US South and Canada. The company has a longstanding relationship with NBP which transports its pellets to Japan. …The installation of a biomass fuel plant could see a 22% reduction in well-to-wake carbon emissions in bioships when compared to using fossil fuels.

LONDON – Staff at an influential corporate climate action group whose board announced a plan to allow companies to offset greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chain with carbon credits has now found such offsets are largely ineffective, a confidential preliminary draft shows. At stake is the growth of the still nascent market for voluntary carbon offsets. …The Science-based Targets initiative (SBTi), a U.N.-backed nonprofit that audits the emission reduction plans of companies, triggered a revolt among staff last month by declaring its intention to allow use of carbon credits prior to concluding its research. Since then, the SBTi’s board of trustees said that any decisions would be “informed by the evidence”. …Many of the SBTi’s financial backers are pushing for adoption. They argue offsets are needed to spur more investment in clean energy and meet a global pledge to reduce emissions to zero on a net basis by 2050.