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….In a letter to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson to be delivered Wednesday, the groups said they were concerned that official federal emissions numbers put logging emissions below net zero, while an independent analysis says they’re actually on par with Alberta oilsands production. “We have to stop pretending that we’re getting ahead on climate change by using industrial logging,” said Jay Ritchlin, nature director at the David Suzuki Foundation, and a signatory of the letter. “There needs to be revision of the way we count the carbon emissions from forestry.” …The government does not produce a simple number for the emissions from logging in its official accounting of GHG emissions. …Counting in this way lets the logging industry take credit for the carbon sequestration performed by trees that regrew naturally after forest fires without any human intervention.
BETHESDA, Maryland — Enviva issued the following statement in response to a public letter from 550 global scientists sent to the Presidents of the European Commission, European Parliament, and European Council: Enviva applauds 550 global scientists for their letter highlighting the important role that woody biomass from sustainably managed forests can play in climate change mitigation, delivering a fossil fuel-free energy future, and maintaining healthy forests. This includes sustainably sourced woody biomass from healthy forests in the U.S. Southeast. …Importantly, as the EU progresses its discussions on the Renewable Energy Directive, we believe these expert perspectives, based on science and deep expertise in forest management and ecology, will help inform the policy debate surrounding the use of woody biomass in meeting the EU’s climate targets. …The full letter, “Scientist Letter regarding the need for climate smart forest management,” is 
An analysis suggests Canada is using questionable methods to dramatically underestimate greenhouse gas emissions from the forestry industry, which it says equal those from Alberta’s oilsands in some years. “Canada is taking credit for carbon removal from vast forests that have never been logged as a way of masking emissions,” said Michael Polanyi of Nature Canada. The report was also sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council. …Federal government figures suggest carbon emissions from harvesting the “managed forest” are almost evenly balanced overall by carbon absorption from forest regrowth. NRCan has long defended its approach, saying it conforms with United Nations guidelines. But the report says the government’s calculations are misleading. The government doesn’t attribute carbon released by wildfires to industry. However, it does credit industry for carbon absorbed by forest regrowth, even if that forest has never been harvested. …The authors tried to isolate emissions directly attributable to industry using government data. 
Recently there have been many discussions of the use of fibre from B.C.’s forests for bioenergy. Biomass is already a mainstream source of renewable energy in B.C., as well as in many other jurisdictions… At the heart of the current debate in B.C. is the question of whether forests are being logged to produce pellets. Earlier this year, the Wood Pellet Association of Canada commissioned us to analyze government and industry databases of wood harvested in BC, confidential commercial data, and independent third party audit reports in order to evaluate what feedstock types are used to produce pellets. …No one else has gone to this level of detail to substantiate the source of B.C. wood pellets. Our report 
NEW YORK — Terraformation, a global reforestation company, has launched the Seed to Carbon Forest Accelerator, the world’s first biodiversity-focused, carbon-funded forest program. The new forest accelerator will provide forestry teams with the tools to launch restoration projects and succeed at scale. These include early-stage financing, training in resilient native ecosystem restoration, and tools to increase project transparency in critical early stages. The carbon buyers and companies who provide early financing to accelerator cohorts lock in access to the premium-quality carbon credits the projects generate. …The accelerator program is a direct response to the largest bottlenecks to mass-scale restoration. …Since the company began its global programs in 2020, it has successfully launched 16 restoration projects across 11 countries.
PISGAH, Maryland —A major player in credit markets has made one of the largest U.S. timberland purchases in years, laying Wall Street’s biggest wager yet on forest carbon markets. Oak Hill Advisors LP, a subsidiary of T. Rowe Price Group that manages $56 billion and is best known as a corporate-debt investor, said that it led a consortium to pay about $1.8 billion for 1.7 million acres of forest. The properties spread over 17 eastern states and will be overseen by Anew Climate LLC. Oak Hill last year joined with Anew’s subsidiary Bluesource Sustainable Forests to acquire and manage timberland to maximize how much carbon is stored in the standing trees rather than how much wood is produced from cutting them down. …Anew plans to throttle back logging. It expects just 10% to 20% of revenue from the properties will come from harvesting wood, compared with 80% to 90% of the top line under the previous owner. …The 56 properties are mainly hardwood forest. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
A first-of-its-kind
Countries around the world are failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change… according to a report issued Wednesday by the United Nations. Just 26 of 193 countries that agreed last year to step up their climate actions have followed through with more ambitious plans. The world’s top two polluters, China and the United States, have taken some action but have not pledged more this year, and climate negotiations between the two have been frozen for months. …Wednesday’s report comes less than two weeks before nations are set to gather at U.N. climate talks in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss unfulfilled promises and take stock of the fight to stave off environmental catastrophe. But war in Europe, an international energy crisis, global inflation and political turmoil in countries like Britain and Brazil have distracted leaders and complicated cooperative efforts to tackle climate change. [to access the full story a NYTimes subscription may be required]
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires darkened skies over the Alaskan Interior this summer, with the state experiencing its fastest start to the fire season on record amid hot and dry conditions. Tens of thousands of lightning strikes ignited the majority of active fires, according to the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service. …With climate change raising Arctic temperatures faster than the global average, wildfires are shifting poleward where the flames blaze through boreal forest and tundra and release vast amounts of greenhouse gases from the carbon-rich organic soil. …Arctic wildfires that sparked above the 66th parallel north unleashed an estimated 16 million tonnes of carbon in 2021. …Though the charred boreal forests and tundra still represent just 3% of the global area burned each year, the richness of their soils means those wildfires account for roughly 15% of the world’s annual carbon emissions from fires — and that number is growing.
A nearly two-decade effort by Californians to cut their emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide may have been erased by a single, devastating year of wildfires, according to UCLA and University of Chicago researchers. The state’s record-breaking 2020 fire season, which saw more than 4 million acres burn, spewed almost twice the tonnage of greenhouse gases as the total amount of carbon dioxide reductions made since 2003, according to a study published recently in the journal Environmental Pollution. Researchers estimated that about 127 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent were released by the fires, compared with about 65 million metric tons of reductions achieved in the previous 18 years. “When we look at the contribution of the 2020 wildfires, it becomes almost like a new sector of emissions in the economy,” said Michael Jerrett, a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and a lead author of the research. “Really, we’re about double the reductions.”
NORTH CAROLINA — A new partnership announced last month could see “green” aviation fuel derived from Tar Heel State trees helping connect cities and countries around the world. Last month, Enviva, which turns trees and wood products into pellets that are burnt for energy, announced a deal with Alder Fuels to supply up to 750,000 metric tons of wood biomass to the privately owned green crude producer beginning in 2024. The move would help meet an urgent demand by the aviation industry to develop a greener power source. … “Sustainable airline fuel made from renewable biomass and waste resources have the potential to deliver the performance of petroleum-based jet fuel but with a fraction of its carbon footprint, giving airlines solid footing for decoupling greenhouse gas emissions from flights,” states the US Dept of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office.
This year, Norway will pay Indonesia $56 million for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Both countries struck a new climate deal in September, in which Norway will provide support for Indonesia’s bid to curb deforestation and forest degradation, with the aim that Indonesia’s forests will turn into a carbon sink by 2030. Norway was supposed to pay the $56 million in 2020 under its previous climate agreement with Indonesia, but the Nordic country failed to pay, resulting in Indonesia terminating the original agreement.
The U.K. government on Oct. 25 announced it will implement a 12-month suspension of certain fuel quality requirements for domestic and non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme participants using wood pellets to help ensure adequate fuel supplies this winter. The U.K. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy opened a public consultation on its proposal to temporarily suspend certain fuel quality requirements for RHI participants using wood pellets. The suspension aims to ensure adequate wood pellet supplies following supply disruptions associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. …While the use of non-ENPlus pellets could have some short-term negative impact on fuel efficiency and air quality, the BEIS said those impacts have been deemed as acceptable so that homes heated by biomass do not experience significant price rises or a lack of fuel supply this winter.
Australian farming and forestry are joining forces ahead of November’s UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP 27) to promote ‘climate smart farming with forestry’ as a major solution to help Australia meet more ambitious climate targets, contribute to global food security and grow timber for our homes and farms. The National Farmers Federation (NFF) and Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) will promote the synergies that can be achieved from farming and forestry. NFF’s Tony Mahar said… “There are many actions our farmers are already taking, and adding trees – at the right scale and location – to primary farm enterprises can be a climate solution that ticks many boxes. When done properly it can help Australia achieve its emissions reduction targets, complement traditional farming enterprises with financial, biodiversity and stock shelter gains, and help solve Australia’s timber supply crisis.
Just the other day I 
The Antarctic ozone hole last week peaked at a moderately large size for the third straight year — bigger than the size of North America — but experts say it’s still generally shrinking despite recent blips because of high-altitude cold weather. …“The overall trend is improvement. It’s a little worse this year because it was a little colder this year,” said NASA’s Paul Newman. “All the data says that ozone is on the mend.” …Climate change science says that heat-trapping carbon from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas makes Earth’s surface warmer, but the upper stratosphere, above the heat-trapping, gets cooler, Newman said. …Chlorine levels are down almost 30% compared to their peak 20 years ago, Newman said. …University of Colorado’s Brian Toon points to large fires in Australia and injection of massive amounts of water from January’s undersea volcano eruption as new phenomena that could be having impacts.
Amid a Europe-wide energy crisis, the Czech Republic has had amongst the steepest increase in costs. The July 2022 Household Energy Prices Index found that the country was paying the most for electricity when adjusted to purchasing power parity. …It’s obvious to all that Europe is heading towards a winter of discontent, made all the worse by an expected cold snap across the continent… In anticipation of surging energy bills, greater numbers of Europeans are turning to wood to heat themselves up this winter. But the story is the same across the continent: firewood prices are spiking, warehouses have filled their waiting lists until next year, and concerns have been raised that all this will lead to major environmental problems. Government agencies have expressed concerns about illegal logging, as people are expected to venture into the forests to cut down their own fuel, although some politicians have been more lax than others.
Growing demand for biomass is putting pressure on industry to deliver sufficient quantities without destroying the environment, the European Commission has warned, pointing to a looming “availability gap” which could be as big as 40-70% by 2050. The bioeconomy – the use of biological resources from land and sea to produce food, materials or energy – is touted in Brussels as one of the solutions to shift society towards a low-carbon, circular economy that is less dependent on fossil fuels. A June report by the EU executive shows Europe is on track to meet the objectives of its bioeconomy strategy, which was first launched in 2012, said Patrick Child, deputy director general at the Commission’s research and innovation department. …However, the report also underlined the need for bio-based industries to respect ecological boundaries – the level at which more biomass production starts harming the environment. …priorities need to be set for how to allocate scare supplies.