Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

El Niño’s final stand; A mild but moody spring across Canada

By the Weather Network
Cision Newswire
February 28, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

OAKVILLE, ON – What an extraordinarily mild winter it has been across Canada! While the past season included a monumental snowstorm for Atlantic Canada and a stretch of severe cold across western Canada, El Niño stole the show with one of the warmest winters on record and minimal snow for many. Will this pattern continue through spring? To answer this question, The Weather Network has issued their Spring Forecast for the months of March, April and May.”El Niño is fading, and La Niña appears to be getting ready to take the stage as we head towards summer,” said Chris Scott, Chief Meteorologist with The Weather Network. “Therefore, we expect this spring will feature profound mood swings across Canada as periods of late winter-like weather interrupt our journey towards consistent warm weather. However, we expect that warmer-than-normal temperatures will outduel the cold weather for most Canadians this spring.” Below is a more detailed look at the conditions expected in each province this spring.

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After a warm winter, Canada may see more drought, wildfires in the spring

By Uday Rana
Global News
February 27, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

As Canada continues to experience warmer-than-usual temperatures this winter, the country must gear up for extreme weather events, including drought, wildfires and floods in the spring and summer, experts told Global News. Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell said this year’s high temperatures were due to El Niño, which is a phenomenon where the water in the equatorial region of the Pacific warms and weather patterns across North America change. “This year was likely even warmer because of the effects of climate change. In the last few days, winter has returned to Western Canada but a large ridge is pumping very mild air across the eastern half of the country,” Farnell said. Kent Moore, a professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Toronto Mississauga, said this warm weather has also meant reduced precipitation.

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Drax: UK power station still burning rare forest wood

By Joe Crowley
BBC Panorama
February 28, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

Drax power company has received £6bn in UK green subsidies from burning wood from some of the world’s most precious forests. Papers obtained by BBC Panorama show Drax took timber from rare forests in Canada it had claimed were “no go areas”. It comes as the government decides whether to give the firm’s Yorkshire site billions more in environmental subsidies. Drax says its wood pellets are “sustainable and legally harvested”. The Drax Power Station … is a key part of the government’s drive to meet its climate targets. …electricity produced from burning pellets is classified as renewable and treated as emission-free. ..Ecologist Michelle Connolly, from the British Columbia campaign group Conservation North, says making pellets from old forests can never be sustainable. “Old-growth forests in British Columbia are almost gone because of 70 years of logging to feed sawmills and pulp mills, and Drax is helping push our remaining ones off the cliff,” she says.

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Expanding Wood Pellet Use in Taiwan

Wood Pellet Association of Canada
February 23, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

Taiwan is facing a challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. …the country aims to increase the use of renewable energy from 10 percent to 20 percent by 2025. This is a part of Taiwan’s nuclear-free homeland vision and national goal to reach net-zero carbon emission in 2050. Developing renewable energy is the most important implementation component to reach the goal and wood pellets are a top priority. The Wood Pellet Association of Canada, together with the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei and the Taiwan Bio-energy Technology Development Association, is organizing a trade mission to Taiwan on March 11-15, 2024. …The 2024 Taiwan Solid Biofuels Conference on March 14, 2024 in Taipei includes information on production, transportation, storage, loading and unloading, pricing,  current usage, and future prospects. The conference will help domestic industries and government agencies understand international solid biofuel development and market trends and help plan for a low-carbon transformation.

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How analysts say Canada could wipe out the CO2 emissions of its entire economy

By Pamela Heaven
The Financial Post
February 26, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

Canada’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have been laudable, but there is a way we could do so much more, says a report from National Bank of Canada. So far efforts have been largely focused within our boundaries, but considering that Canada is responsible for less than 1.5% of global emissions, these efforts could be for naught because other countries are increasing emissions by a far greater magnitude. …Canada once said that there was no business case for meaningful increases in LNG exports to support Germany and Japan, but National analysts hope India could be a different story. India recently announced plans to double its coal production by 2030, which National estimates would increase its power sector emissions from coal to roughly the equivalent of Canada’s entire greenhouse gas emissions in 2021. National says there is a better way even if it means supplying India with a fossil fuel alternative.

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Drum Dryers Symposium: Save the Date!

By Gordon Murray, Executive Director
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada
February 12, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Drum dryers present the risk of fires and explosions due to combustible dust, as well as conditions that can lead to the generation and accumulation of combustible gas.  Join us for this online symposium as we explore best practices for safer operations of drum dryers. The Wood Pellet Association of Canada is hosting the online event on Thursday, April 4, 2024, from 9:00-11:00 am Pacific Time (1:00-3:00 am Atlantic Time). Both drum dryers and belt dryers are widely used in the wood pellet industry as well in other sectors, including oriented strand board, medium density fibreboard, grain, and minerals. The symposium will include presentations from producers and subject matter experts on learnings and experiences, the current state of and new approaches to drum dryer safety. …We encourage personnel at wood pellet facilities that operate drum dryers to attend the event. 

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Canada’s Forest Sector Unveils Roadmap Toward Net-Zero at GLOBE Forum 2024

Forest Products Association of Canada
February 13, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

As global leaders representing government, business and the environment meet in Vancouver this week, Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has launched an important report entitled; Climate Change Mitigation in Canada’s Forest Products Sector: Roadmap Toward Net-Zero. Developed in partnership with sustainability experts at Delphi, the report provides an actionable roadmap to help seize the benefits of, decarbonization pathways and the use of carbon-storing wood products, as well as climate-smart forestry in the face of worsening natural disturbances including drought, pest outbreaks, and wildland fire. The findings highlight that with the rapid adoption of new technologies, appropriate investments and new policies, Canada’s forest products sector could contribute between 18-46 million tonnes CO2e in emission reductions annually (relative to current emissions) by 2050. Climate-smart forestry practices will also increase the resilience of Canada’s forests and help mitigate the impacts of worsening natural disturbances, including increasingly frequent and devastating wildfires.

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Greenpeace alleges lobbying push for ‘questionable’ carbon offsets

By Stefan Labbé
Vancouver is Awesome
February 9, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Canada’s forestry, mining and oil industries have engaged in a concerted effort to lobby the federal government to adopt “often questionable” carbon and biodiversity offset projects, a new analysis claims. The allegations, presented by Greenpeace Canada Thursday, are partly based on government documents the group obtained through freedom of information laws. …Documents Greenpeace obtained through access to information laws show how representatives from logging, mining and oil companies met with federal government representatives on June 29, 2023, ahead of a United Nations summit held in Montreal late last year to hammer out a deal on protecting the planet’s biodiversity. …In forestry, a number of industry groups and green credential bodies attended the meetings. B.C.-based Paper Excellence, Canada’s largest forestry company, was among two forestry companies present at the meeting. The forestry representatives told government that focusing on endangered caribou was taking up too much time, according to a summary of the meeting.

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The Forest Carbon Loophole

By Julee Boan and Jay Malcolm
The Hill Times
February 7, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

OTTAWA — When forests are logged, even after accounting for post-cutting forest growth and carbon stored in harvested wood products, there is a net emission of large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. …Canada’s forest carbon accounting has a problem with its ledger books. According to Canada’s official greenhouse gas inventory reports, energy, transportation, and agriculture are the country’s biggest emitters. Forestry, in contrast, is considered a slight carbon sink, meaning it is reported as responsible for capturing more carbon than it emits. But digging into the numbers tells a very different story. [to access the full story a Hill Times subscription is required]

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Climate change denial bullying declining — but not fast enough

By Suzanne Simard and Steph Troughton
The Vancouver Sun
February 27, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

In recent years, a noteworthy shift has occurred in the conversations surrounding climate change. What was once a landscape overflowing with blatant denial and misinformation has gradually transformed into a more balanced science-based discussion. The era of climate change denial is slowly waning, and in its place, is a growing recognition of the urgent need for action. …The reason for this shift is clear: The evidence supporting the reality of climate change has become overwhelming. Scientists from the University of B.C.’s faculty of forestry are among those speaking out about the world’s climate crisis. Hydrology expert and pioneer of applying the probabilistic framework of attribution science to flood risk, Dr. Younes Alila reminds us that climate change and clearcut logging undeniably contribute to record-breaking floods and droughts. His team’s research routinely shows B.C.’s heightened risk from climate and land-use changes are exacerbated by forest cover loss.

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Vancouver Island firm BioFlame producing alternative heating source for the masses

By Don Bodger
The Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News
February 27, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Marcus Woernle

CHEMAINUS, BC — Marcus Woernle is a young innovator in an ever-evolving forest industry. Woernle, 38, has utilized his experience from the time he previously worked at the Crofton pulp mill as a power engineer to meet growing demands for the residential and commercial heat market while being environmentally conscious at the same time. That led him to establish BioFlame Briquettes, with a production plant located in the Chemainus Industrial Park. He’s the sole owner of the company, with a couple of additional employees and the chance for rapid expansion of the workforce in the future. “We make sawdust briquettes, they’re compressed sawdust bricks,” Woernle pointed out. “What we’ve recently got into which I think is going to be the future is we make a smaller briquette.” With limited natural gas available in many parts of the region, it seemed a natural to him for the development of the product for wood stoves.

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British Columbians support $36B electricity grid expansion, renewables over LNG

Clean Energy Canada
February 21, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER — With a low snowpack threatening hydroelectricity production in B.C., power concerns are more top of mind than usual for many British Columbians. Overwhelmingly, B.C. residents support the provincial government and BC Hydro’s recent $36 billion investment to expand and improve the electricity grid over the next decade, according to a new public opinion survey conducted by Stratcom for Clean Energy Canada. A third of respondents (33%) say the expansion is overdue, while another 40% say the province is acting at the right time. …As for the type of power generated, British Columbians would like to see more renewable options, with hydro (84%), solar (81%), and wind (79%) taking the top spots. Respondents also expressed strong support for energy storage (78%)—often paired with wind or solar power to store energy for later use—and homeowner-generated rooftop solar (75%). [38% identified biomass as important or very important]

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Don’t invest your carbon offset in trees

By Kristy Dyer
Castanet News
February 20, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Trees take in carbon and give up oxygen. The region around them benefits from their shade and trees put moisture into the air. A mature tree can absorb 20 to 30 kilograms of carbon annually. However, trees make lousy carbon credits. Let’s begin with age. A tree starts as a seedling, a tiny plant. That seedling captures almost no carbon. It takes 10 years (depending on the species) for a tree to become a carbon-absorbing machine. When you invest in a tree-related carbon credit, you are essentially saying “I will emit carbon today but I promise to make up for it 10 years from now”. …You can plant a tree today but who is going to safeguard it over the next 100 years? Trees can be lost to forest fire, development and disease, such as the pine bark beetle. …Planting projects have chosen trees that are wrong for the region, which then became an invasive species.

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Catalyzing Carbon Dioxide Removal at Scale: New Report Released

B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy
Cision Newswire
February 14, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC – The B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) has released a techno-economic analysis of pathways to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere at a multi-gigatonne scale. The “Catalyzing Carbon Dioxide Removal at Scale” report confirms that alongside decarbonization and emissions reduction efforts, big impact strategies for carbon removal are needed to meet 2050 net-zero targets and remain in line with a 1.5°C future. This report uncovers promising economic opportunities and new areas for carbon removal innovation, spanning forest management and wildfire prevention, direct ocean capture and alkalinity enhancement, and direct air capture and carbon mineralization. “This report evaluates viable pathways to scaling CDR. This work supports IBET Climate’s mission to find and develop the technologies, products, and teams to build world class companies that will address at least 1% of the world’s carbon emissions at scale,” said Ron Dizy, Chief Executive Officer at IBET Climate.

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No backing down on climate action, Eby tells Globe Forum

By Nelson Bennett
Business in Vancouver
February 14, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

David Eby and Megan Leslie

With consumers feeling the bite of ever-increasing carbon taxes, and business leaders pushing back on the potential economic costs of B.C.’s climate change policies, David Eby’s NDP government is coming under increasing pressure to take its foot off the CleanBC accelerator. Recently, the Business Council of BC pointed out that the provincial government’s own economic analysis projects the West Coast economy could be $28 billion smaller by 2030 under the CleanBC plan than without it. …In a Globe Forum fireside chat with Eby, Megan Leslie, president of the World Wildlife Fund, noted that B.C. has greater biodiversity than any other province, but also the most species at risk. This gave Eby the opportunity to point to his government’s 30 By 30 plan, which aims to set aside 30 per cent of B.C.’s land and waters for conservation, backed up by about $1 billion in funds from senior government, environmental groups and First Nations to allow for economic opportunities.

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Minister ‘confident’ B.C. is adequately preparing for drought, energy needs

By Kylie Stanton and Elizabeth McSheffrey
Global News
February 13, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

British Columbia’s energy minister Josie Osborne is “confident” the province is “taking all the steps that need to be taken” to prepare for what could be another drought-stricken summer followed by more dry summers for years to come. …some continue to sound alarm bells about snowpack levels that are well below average for this time of year, and may not sufficiently replenish the water reservoirs tapped by BC Hydro. “Throughout this drought in 2023, BC Hydro has been planning in real-time to be able to account for this, taking steps like being able to import large amounts of electricity so we can reserve water to be used for energy production during the winter,” said Osborne. …The province imported a record amount of power last year — the equivalent of about two Site C Dams. The advocacy group Energy Futures Initiative suggested B.C. could become an “at-risk” area for power generation by 2026.

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Ontario Makes Historic Investment to Expand Forest Sector Innovation

By Natural Resources and Forestry
The Government of Ontario
March 1, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

TIMMINS – The Government of Ontario is making an historic investment of $60 million in the Forest Biomass Program. Over the next three years, the program will make targeted investments in forest sector initiatives to develop the economic potential and environmental benefits of underutilized wood and mill by-products, known as forest biomass. “This new Forest Biomass Program funding will grow businesses, strengthen communities and put workers to work,” said Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. “We are investing in the technology, the people and the expertise that drive our forest sector into the future – and together, we are achieving our government’s plan for forest sector prosperity.” The announcement of additional funding follows the Forest Biomass Program’s third phase of investment, which committed more than $6.1 million to 12 research, innovation and modernization initiatives.

Additional coverage from the Ontario Forest Industries Association: Ontario Forest Industries Association Applauds Government’s $60 Million Investment in Forest Biomass Program

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Forests can add value without being clearcut

By Moria Donovan
The National Observer
February 23, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

In Nova Scotia, forests are potential wellsprings of biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods, and long-term climate change mitigation. Yet despite that potential, thousands of acres of forests are clearcut every year in the name of short-term profit. A company called Growing Forests is now aiming to combat that immediate threat, using ecological forestry and carbon offsets as an alternative to unsustainable practices. …Growing Forests has already raised $750,000 from 75 small investors… [and] purchased roughly 900 acres of forest from woodlot owners. …The model of Growing Forests continues the legacy of small woodlot owners by practising a model of ecological forestry meant to sustain harvesting for generations; income which is then used to help pay for the purchase of land. …Growing Forests is currently working through the certification process to offer offsets based on their forests, which would in turn contribute more money toward the purchase of land.

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Too much wood heating P.E.I. government buildings is from unsustainable sources: documents

By Laura Chapin
CBC News
February 17, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

Documents that CBC News P.E.I. received through Freedom of Information show a large amount of the wood being used to heat more than 40 provincial buildings has come from forests that were cleared to become housing or farmland. …One report in the documents revealed that 86 per cent of the wood one contractor used between 2015 and 2018 came from land conversion — forests cleared for farmland or for housing. That concerns Gary Schneider, manager of the MacPhail Woods Ecological Project. “It can’t be sustainable, because we can’t continuously clear land,” he said. …When the Liberal government of Robert Ghiz started using wood to heat provincial buildings in 2008, the aim was to reduce reliance on furnace oil. A promise was made that only wood that had been harvested sustainably would be used in the low-emission wood-burning boilers.

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Bioenergy: A US$500 Billion Market Opportunity

By Wood Mackenzie
Forbes Magazine
February 28, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

The energy transition is a story of electrification. But rapid electrification can pose huge challenges to heavy industry, reliant on fossil fuels to provide high-temperature heat; and to grid operators, beginning to buckle under the weight of transmission bottlenecks and variable renewables. …Bioenergy has emerged as the leading drop-in solution to decarbonise sectors resistant to electrification. Right now, the bioenergy market is currently valued at US$44 billion and by 2050, it’s expected to grow to US$125 billion. …New technologies can harness residues from farming and forestry to municipal and industrial waste, turning what was once thought to be worthless refuse into renewable, carbon neutral, and versatile energy resources. …The problem lies not so much in the demand for these fuels, but rather in the supply. …In most cases the cost of producing upgraded biomass, biomethane, and biofuels exceeds the cost of fossil-fuel equivalents. Policy support is key.

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How the arrival of La Niña later this year could change the world’s weather

By Scott Dance
The Washington Post in the Boston Globe
February 8, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Signs of a historically strong El Niño global climate pattern became obvious in recent weeks — including deadly fires in South America and deluges in California. Yet scientists are now predicting that the regime could disappear within months. Forecasters at the National Weather Service issued a La Niña watch Thursday, projecting that there is about a 55 percent chance that this pattern — which is the opposite of El Niño — will develop by August. The development of La Niña would have major consequences for weather around the world. It could also temporarily slow the rapid global warming that began about nine months ago, when El Niño first took hold. …It also tends to subdue global temperatures. While it won’t turn back a decades-long rise in planetary warmth, it could moderate the extreme levels of warming scientists have observed as of late. …Climate scientists … suspect that the frequency of strong El Niño and La Niña events is likely to increase throughout the next century.

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New Sicamous bio-heat facility generates over $24K in 3 months

By Heather Black
Vernon Morning Star
February 28, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

Sicamous’ new bio-heat facility that provides alternative energy to the industrial park is already turning a profit after just three months in operation. Reporting to the district’s Select Finance Committee on Feb. 28, chief financial officer Bianca Colonna said two connections currently using the system generated $24,364 in revenue. Based on the 2023 numbers, she also provided a budget for the first three months of 2024, taking the initial learning curve for users into account. Colonna estimated revenue for the six months of operation this year at $38,250. With 2023 expenses at $15,689, that left a net revenue of $8,675 that was transferred to reserve. For the 2024 budget, Colonna anticipates $25,888 in costs and $12,362 going into reserve. …The biggest cost is the wood chips at $12,326. The district currently pays a flat rate of $120 per tonne, and Colonna expects that rate to remain pretty consistent going forward, but has projected an annual two per cent increase on costs.

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Wood Pellet Mills in California: A Blessing or a Boondoggle?

By John Johnson
The Capital & Main
February 23, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

The state’s forests are much too dense and wildly overgrown. …Rural county officials see an additional reason to cut trees and clear forests: bringing back jobs lost in the long decline of logging. The accumulated biomass can be ground into pellets and sold for fuel in Japan and Europe. …Advocates contend the industry will be climate friendly and carbon neutral, but opponents say pellet plants already operating in the southeastern United States are neither. The U.S., they say, is paying the price of green energy in Europe. …Enviva claims it uses only treetops and branches in its plants, the kind of material the California plants also plan to use. But a whistleblower called that a joke. “We use 100% whole trees,” he said. The rural representatives in California claim their operation will be nothing like Enviva’s. “Our mission is to increase forest health,” said Blacklock.

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Weyerhaeuser and Lapis Energy announce carbon sequestration exploration agreement

Weyerhaeuser Company
February 27, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

SEATTLE — Weyerhaeuser and Lapis Energy announced the execution of an exclusive exploration agreement for subsurface carbon dioxide sequestration in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The agreement covers 187,500 acres of subsurface rights owned by Weyerhaeuser and spans five potential sequestration sites, including two locations that were previously identified by Weyerhaeuser as prospective opportunities for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) development. Under the exclusive two-year agreement, Lapis will determine the sequestration potential of each site. Upon successful completion of the technical and commercial assessments, Lapis will have the option to move sites into full-scale development agreements and complete the work required to permit, build and operate permanent CO2 sequestration sites serving large-scale industrial sources. …Lapis, located in Dallas and founded in 2020 by a team of industry-leading experts, is building a world-class portfolio of CCS projects within North America

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New Hampshire Climate Action Plan fails without forests

By Joe Short, president, Northern Forest Center
The Concord Monitor
February 15, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

As the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services creates the newest iteration of the state’s Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), it must acknowledge and include the key role that New Hampshire forests and forest products play in reducing carbon emissions. Forest-based strategies are notably absent from the draft Priority Measures. The 2009 PCAP rightly recognized forestry and wood heat as strategies to combat climate change in ways that also deliver important benefits for the New Hampshire economy and rural communities. It will be a huge oversight if the updated version fails to do the same. A critical tool that is already substantially mitigating the state’s emissions is literally all around us. …One of those strategies is modern wood heat. …Another forest strategy for carbon reduction is substituting mass timber for steel and concrete in our built environment, which generates three significant climate benefits.

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How a 95-year-old Wisconsin sawmill used wood chips, bark to sell electricity back to the grid

By Becky Jacobs
The Post Crescent
February 13, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

ROLLING, Wisconsin — A 95-year-old sawmill business in northeastern Wisconsin can now generate enough power from burning bark and wood chips that it has started selling excess electricity back to the grid. In fact, if Kretz Lumber Co., Inc. wasn’t using its new system to power the operations at the sawmill, it could support an estimated 225 to 240 homes, according to president Troy Brown. Kretz Lumber is an employee-owned business made up of about 85 people. …The boiler system started up in June. It burns byproducts from the sawmill to create heat, through steam lines, for the lumber dry kilns, Brown said. The equipment is fueled by “woody biomass,” Brown said. …The company received a total of $1.5 million from state and federal grants, including from the Wood Innovations Grant, Energy Innovation Grant Program and Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy.

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New Hampshire Tackles Loss of Timber Tax From Shift To Less Logging With Carbon Credit Programs

By Paula Tracy
In Depth New Hampshire
February 7, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

CONCORD – With the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in timber tax revenues for North Country communities and county government because of a shift from logging trees to saving them for carbon credits, lawmakers are beginning to turn their attention to finding replacement revenue. Some municipalities are facing the prospect of raising taxes or cutting services. Steve Ellis, a member of the Pittsburg Board of Selectmen, said the town received about 20 percent or $175,000 of its $2 million town budget last year from timber tax. That was from land recently bought by a carbon credit company vowing to reduce cutting by 50 percent. The focus is on growing trees and getting paid better by investor companies hoping to reduce their carbon footprint as they move to zero carbon emissions goals. That means Pittsburg has a budget hole to fill now and into the future.

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Climate change experts have ‘serious concerns’ at tree planting cut

By Kevin Keane
BBC News
February 28, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The Scottish government’s climate change advisers have raised “serious concerns” about cuts to tree planting. It was announced in December that the woodland creation budget was being slashed by 41% from £77.2m to £45.4m. Ministers have admitted the cut means they will fall well short of next year’s target of 18,000 hectares of new woodland to tackle climate change. The Scottish government has blamed the decision on cuts to the block grant from Westminster. The forestry sector said the decision will mean millions of small trees which have been growing in nurseries ready for planting will have to be destroyed. …Climate Change Committee chief executive Chris Stark said any delay in tree planting would risk not achieving the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions which are required to meet targets in the 2030s and beyond. …Stuart Goodall, chief executive of Confor, said the industry will take many years to regain the confidence to invest.

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Delays to building new UK power generation creates energy security ‘crunch point’ in 2028

Drax Group Inc.
February 27, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

New independent analysis by Public First, ‘Mind the gap: Exploring Britain’s energy crunch’, commissioned by Drax Group (Drax), reveals that the UK will hit an energy security “crunch point” in 2028. Public First’s research finds that in 2028 a perfect storm of an increase in demand, the retirement of existing assets, and delays to the delivery of Hinkley Point C will culminate in demand exceeding secure dispatchable and baseload capacity by 7.5GW at peak times. This shortfall is more than three times the secure de-rated power that Sizewell C will be capable of providing to the system when completed – 2.5GW – and nearly double the gap in 2022 (4GW). Uncertainty for biomass generators, which contribute over 3GW of secure dispatchable power, risks compounding the shortfall by nearly 50%.

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Relying on pine forests to hit net-zero would place ‘increasing obligation’ on future generations

By Tom Pullar-Strecker
The Post New Zealand
February 26, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Rod Carr

The Government would be imposing a big obligation on future generations if it relied heavily on pine forests to meet the country’s 2050 “net zero” carbon goal, MPs have been told. Climate Change Commission chairperson Rod Carr told Parliament’s Environment select committee “we think trees are great”. But he said the commission was concerned about what might happen after 2050 if the country had achieved “net zero” by planting a large number of pine trees that might be unsustainable. “If they are a mono-age, mono-culture of planting, particularly on erosion-prone land, maintaining that forest cover in the face of disease, age, storm, fire is going to be an increasing obligation on future generations.” Up to 2 million hectares of farmland could be converted to pine forests under existing incentives, which placed no cap on the use of forestry to achieve net emissions targets, he said.

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EU legislature backs a major plan to better protect nature and meet climate goals

By Raf Casert
The Associated Press
February 27, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

STRASBOURG, France — The European Union’s legislature on Tuesday approved a watered-down plan to better protect nature and fight climate change in the 27-nation bloc, despite opposition from the biggest party in parliament and fierce protests from the farming community. The plan is a key part of the EU’s vaunted European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world’s most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. Yet the Nature Restoration plan has had an extremely rough ride through the EU’s complicated approval process and only a watered down version will now proceed to a final vote among the EU member states, where it is expected to pass easily. …Under the plan, member states would have to meet restoration targets for specific habitats and species, with the aim of covering at least 20% of the region’s land and sea areas by 2030.

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Climate action: Council and Parliament agree to establish an EU carbon removals certification framework

By Council of the European Union
European Council
February 20, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Council and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional political agreement today on a regulation to establish the first EU-level certification framework for for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products . The voluntary framework is intended to facilitate and speed up the deployment of high-quality carbon removal and soil emission reduction activities in the EU. Once entered into force, the regulation will be the first step towards… the EU’s ambitious goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The deal reached today is provisional, pending formal adoption by both institutions. The regulation will cover carbon removal including temporary carbon storage in long-lasting products (such as wood-based construction products) of a duration of at least 35 years and that can be monitored on-site during the entire monitoring period.

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Side-effects of expanding forests could limit their potential to tackle climate change – new study

By James Weber and James King
The Conversation
February 22, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Tackling climate change by planting trees has an intuitive appeal. …The suggestion that you can plant trees to offset your carbon emissions is widespread. Many businesses, from those selling shoes to booze, now offer to plant a tree with each purchase, and more than 60 countries have signed up to the Bonn Challenge, which aims to restore degraded and deforested landscapes. However, expanding tree cover could affect the climate in complex ways. Using models of the Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans, we have simulated widescale future forestation. Our new study shows that this increases atmospheric carbon dioxide removal, beneficial for tackling climate change. But side-effects, including changes to other greenhouse gases and the reflectivity of the land surface, may partially oppose this. Our findings suggest that while forestation – the restoration and expansion of forests – can play a role in tackling climate change, its potential may be smaller than previously thought.

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Timber Development UK releases embodied carbon data for more than 95% of timber consumed in UK

By Timber Development UK
Furniture & Joinery Production
February 15, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The UK’s trade association for the timber supply chain – has released average carbon data for the 10 major timber product categories – completely free for all to access. This data will support architects, engineers, and other specifiers to make accurate assessments of the carbon impacts of their material choices as early in the design process as possible – when they have the greatest ability to influence them. TDUK’s new independently verified Embodied Carbon Data for Timber Products calculates weighted average A1-A4 embodied carbon data for common timber products such as softwood, engineered timber, and panel products, including and excluding sequestered carbon. More than 80 EPDs were reviewed in this comprehensive new paper. …It is available to download for free from the TDUK website.

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Germany’s Move to Tighten Biomass Rules to Squeeze Industry

By Petra Sorge
Bloomberg Investing
February 14, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Germany wants to curb the use of unsustainable crops for biomass and force producers to better utilize animal dung and organic waste, a move which has prompted warnings from the industry. While only about a third of animal manure is currently utilized for biogas production, the government wants two thirds to be used by 2030, a draft strategy paper says. It also wants organic waste and cover crops to play a greater role in bioenergy, while plant operators typically prefer to use energy crops such as corn or wood to produce heat, power or biofuels. Biomass, which is the main renewable energy source in both Germany and the European Union, has been considered a controversial alternative to conventional fossil fuels. While proponents argue that burning trees and plants — which absorb carbon dioxide — results in lower net emissions, critics worry about deforestation, land use and biological diversity.

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Erratic weather fuelled by climate change will worsen locust outbreaks, study finds

By Carlos Mureithi
Associated Press in CTV News
February 14, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

©AP Photo/Brian Inganga

Extreme wind and rain may lead to bigger and worse desert locust outbreaks, with human-caused climate change likely to intensify the weather patterns and cause higher outbreak risks, a new study has found. The desert locust — a short-horned species found in some dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia — is a migratory insect that travels in swarms of millions over long distances and damages crops, causing famine and food insecurity. A square kilometre swarm comprises 80 million locusts that can in one day consume food crops enough to feed 35,000 people. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization describes it as ”the most destructive migratory pest in the world.” The study, published in Science Advances on Wednesday, said these outbreaks will be “increasingly hard to prevent and control” in a warming climate.

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Germany’s proposed biomass strategy poorly received by industry

Bioenergy Insight
February 13, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The German government’s national biomass strategy will identify pathways for 2030 and 2045, and focus on “how the sustainable production and use of biomass can serve as a building block for the necessary transformation of our economic system and, in the long term, for achieving climate protection and biodiversity targets as well as the energy transition”. The strategy is based on findings from various scientific institutions, which have shown that the country’s biomass potential is limited, but that demand will grow hugely in view of the climate targets. If the sector continues to operate as is, biomass demand for energy use would outstrip domestic supply by 70% in 2030. This would be 40% in 2045. The biomass strategy’s success is dependent on targets for wind and solar energy and a hydrogen drive to succeed, because biomass can only replace fossil fuels to a certain extent.

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Fewer trees were cut down last year, and that’s good for Finland’s carbon sink

YLE
February 10, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Fewer trees were cut down in Finnish forests last year, according to the Natural Resources Institute (Luke). Its preliminary data for 2023 shows that logging declined by nine percent compared to 2022, falling back to around the same level as 2020. That’s good news in terms of forest absorption of carbon dioxide. In 2021 and 2022, Finland’s land use changed from being a carbon sink to being a source of emissions… Forests are Finland’s biggest carbon sink, and logging significantly affects them. In 2020 … the forest carbon sink was more than three times as high as in 2021-22. Logging is of course one of the biggest factors influencing the carbon sink of forests. Another major factor is tree growth. Calculations of forest carbon sequestration must take into account many factors, including emissions from peatlands, the carbon sequestration of mineral soils, and the effect of temperature on these.

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World temperatures go above 1.5 C warming limit for a full year, EU scientists say

By Emilio Morenatti
The Associated Press in CBC News
February 8, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The world just experienced its hottest January on record, but that wasn’t the only new record it set, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. For the first time, the global temperature pushed past the internationally agreed upon warming threshold for an entire 12-month period, with February 2023 to January 2024, running 1.52 C. …Despite exceeding 1.5 C in a 12-month period, the world has not yet breached the Paris Agreement target, which refers to an average global temperature over decades. …The El Niño weather phenomenon, which warms the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, did push temperatures higher. But Buonotempo said it wasn’t the primary driver of the record temperatures. …U.S. scientists have said 2024 has a one-in-three chance of being even hotter than last year, and a 99 per cent chance of ranking in the top five warmest years.

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Not all carbon credits are created equal

By Maria Mendiluce, We Mean Business Coalition
Euronews
February 9, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The carbon finance community recently welcomed the launch of a new code of practice to rebuild trust in “high-integrity” carbon credits, designed to help governments and businesses (or even individuals) accelerate their transition to ‘net zero’ emissions. Released by the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), this additional guidance enables buyers to make claims more credibly about their use of high-quality carbon credits. Simultaneously, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) is addressing the supply of high-quality carbon credits by setting rigorous thresholds around disclosure and sustainable development. This is especially important given the growing scrutiny of carbon markets in the last year. External accountability is essential and welcome, and new efforts like those of VCMI and ICVCM will help differentiate and validate in the market more robust claims and credits respectively and accelerate climate action.

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