Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

As climate costs mount, businesses talking more about spending to adapt: report

By Ian Bickis
Business in Vancouver
June 23, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Work on climate change has largely focused on preventing it from getting worse, but as a new RBC report points out, businesses are also starting to think more about potential spending on adaptation and preparation as the costs of disasters pile up. The report says that extreme weather and natural disaster costs already totalled US$368 billion last year, 14 per cent above the long-term average since 2000, and that this year could match or exceed the total. The trend is expected to get worse, because as the report notes there’s expected to be a 2.7 degree rise in average temperatures by 2100 based on current global policies and actions, while an optimistic scenario pegs the rise at 1.9 degrees. The costs stemming from rising temperatures are leading to more attention in boardrooms, with the report noting mentions of climate change on the rise in both U.S. and Asia.

Read More

Could Canada’s carbon capture ambitions catch a chill from Iceland’s struggling Mammoth project?

By Darius Snieckus
The National Observer
June 16, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

Iceland and Canada lie over 4,500 kilometres apart on a world map, yet news that a pioneering carbon removal project near Reykjavik is falling well short of expectations a year after its launch has hit home with some North American sector skeptics closely watching the climate technology’s progress. Switzerland’s Climeworks, which has raised US $800 million, opened the world’s largest operational direct air capture (DAC) plant, known as Mammoth. But the facility, which uses what look like walls of giant fans to capture CO2 directly from the air and then pumps it deep underground, has not measured up to expectations. …The slow start has sparked discussion in clean energy circles over the wisdom. …Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada could be a leader in carbon capture and storage as part of a controversial effort to decarbonize oil and gas, including extending tax credits and setting carbon dioxide removal targets.

Read More

From ‘greenwashing’ to ‘green hushing’ — companies complain new law stifles environmental efforts

By Brandie Weikle
CBC Radio News
June 17, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Michael McCain

Some corporate leaders say new anti-greenwashing legislation has had the unintended effect of dissuading companies from taking climate action. But environmental organizations and others say that’s a cop out. Bill C-59’s changes to the Competition Act were meant to prevent companies from misrepresenting the environmental benefits of their products or practices.” The bill also gave the Competition Bureau more power to penalize companies that can’t back up their claims. But critics say requiring all such claims conform to “internationally recognized methodology” leaves too much room for interpretation and makes companies vulnerable to legal action. Michael McCain, the executive chair of Maple Leaf Foods, calls this “green hushing.” …The changes create so many “obstacles and consequences” to touting a company’s environmental efforts, that the companies stop doing them. Royal Bank has “retired” its commitment to facilitate $500 billion in sustainable finance by this year, pointing to changes in the Competition Act.

Read More

Safe Wood Pellet Storage

Wood Pellet Association of Canada
June 12, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

The Wood Pellet Association of Canada, FutureMetrics and Ørsted are hosting a one-day workshop—Safe Wood Pellet Storage: Preventing, Detecting, and Managing Self-Heating Incidents in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 3, 2025. Join industry experts for a crucial discussion on the risks, detection, and prevention of self-heating incidents in wood pellet storage. This workshop will offer invaluable insights into major incidents, technical causes, risk mitigation strategies, and emergency response procedures, assisting professionals in enhancing safety standards across storage facilities. This workshop is a must-attend event for professionals seeking to enhance pellet storage safety, mitigate fire risks, and improve operational resilience in large-scale storage environments. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with leading specialists and drive industry-wide improvements forward.

Read More

‘Win-win’: new maps reveal best opportunities for global reforestation

By Damian Carrington
The Guardian UK
June 11, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, United States, International

New maps have revealed the best “win-win” opportunities across the world to regrow forests and tackle the climate crisis, without harming people or wildlife. The places range from the eastern US and western Canada, to Brazil and Columbia, and across Europe. If reforested, this would remove 2.2bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, about the same as all the nations in the European Union. Previous maps have suggested much larger areas but were criticised for including important ecosystems. …The result was a map showing 195 million hectares of reforestation opportunity, an area equivalent to the size of Mexico but up to 90% smaller than previous maps. …“Reforestation is not a substitute for cutting fossil fuel emissions, but even if we were to drive down emissions tomorrow, we still need to remove excess CO2,” said Dr Susan Cook-Patton, at The Nature Conservancy and author of the new study, published in the journal Nature Communications

Read More

Pellets: A ‘Backyard Solution’ for Energy Needs

By Jonathan Levesque, Biomass Solution Biomasse
Wood Pellet Association of Canada
June 5, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Jonathan Levesque

Transforming wood waste into versatile wood pellets makes sense for Canada’s forest industry, the local and national economy and a world that needs clean, dependable energy. It’s been a busy time delivering news about biomass energy. In May, I represented the Wood Pellet Association of Canada at the Energizing Efficiency conference held in Fredericton, New Brunswick, delivered the webinar Driving Decarbonization and Cost Savings with Bio-heat during Bioheat Week and was a featured guest on the Reimagined Energy podcast. Pellets are a reliable and inexpensive source of energy for Canadians that can help with our heating needs. Rising energy costs mean wood pellet heat is competitive with heat pumps, cheaper than baseboard heating and less than oil and propane. In Canada, we do not have enough electricity to address the needs of the future. …Bioheat is an on-demand form of energy that can help alleviate pressure on the electrical grid.

Read More

Register Now: Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s Annual Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia!

The Wood Pellet Association of Canada
June 4, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Join us in Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 23-24, 2025 for Biomass for a Low-Carbon Future. As the world moves toward a low-carbon future, biomass and wood pellets play a key role in ensuring Canada has renewable and responsible energy. Join us to explore the numerous opportunities biomass presents, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to supporting economic growth in the transition to a net-zero economy. Who Should Attend? Anyone interested in advancing electrification, including pellet producers, customers, First Nations and government officials, policymakers, regulators at every level, researchers, safety specialists, logistics personnel and equipment manufacturers.

Hear from experts around the world on key topics including:

  • Bioheat opportunities for Canada
  • Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in action
  • Biomass’ role in reducing emissions in hard-to-abate industries and existing heat and power generation systems
  • Decarbonizing transportation with bioenergy innovations
  • Detecting, preventing and surviving self-heating in biomass storage

Read More

How Great Bear Carbon is Bringing Indigenous Governance and Stewardship to the Volunteer Carbon Market

By Andrew Seale
RBC Royal Bank
June 23, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Great Bear Rainforest on British Columbia’s North and Central Coast sequesters millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide across 6.4 million hectares of snow-capped mountains, ancient western red cedars, and Sitka spruce. It is considered one of the world’s largest carbon sinks—meaning it absorbs more carbon dioxide (CO2) than it releases. Under the Great Bear Carbon banner, a collection of coastal First Nations has entered the voluntary carbon offset market. The organization generates carbon offsets by preserving trees and ecosystems that naturally store CO2, with each carbon offset verifying the removal of one tonne of carbon from the atmosphere. Businesses, governments and individuals can purchase carbon offsets to compensate for their environmental impact. The Great Bear Carbon program helps raise revenue to support the local First Nations and their stewardship efforts.

Read More

Why Mercer International is Looking to Sequester Carbon at Scale in Alberta

By Knowlton Thomas
Calgary.tech
June 17, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Earlier this year, Burnaby’s Svante Technologies made inroads in Alberta. The move eastward is partially powered by a newly formed partnership with Mercer International. The Canadian cleantech’s carbon capture project is targeting biogenic CO2 emissions from Mercer’s Peace River pulp mill. …One of the strategies the firm intends to adopt in Canada is carbon sequestration. Within Alberta, carbon sequestration is a sensible tactic to apply, according to Mercer International’s chief executive officer, Juan Carlos Bueno. “The reason why we’re doing it there is because the mill is located in Alberta, where you have geological formations that are suitable for sequestering CO2,” Bueno informed Andrew Snook of Pulp & Paper Canada. …Finalizing investment in the project, however, is no small consideration. There is a price tag north of $500 million and moving forward would require extensive support from both the Province of Alberta and Government of Canada.

Read More

We need to talk about the fossil fuel elephant in the room

By Julia Beatty, Shuswap Climate Action Society
The Salmon Arm Observer
June 18, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada West

Currently, parts of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia are being ravaged by early and extreme wildfires. …Copernicus reported that wildfires in Canada in 2023 emitted 1,740 megatonnes of C02e, which is nearly three times Canada’s human-contributed emissions in 2022. …Forest and wildfire researchers are telling us that climate change is creating the conditions for the unprecedented wildfire destruction we are seeing. …What can be done to prepare for increasingly intense wildfire seasons? Addressing the problem requires a multi-pronged approach encompassing prevention, preparedness and response. …However, reducing carbon emissions is crucial to avoid further warming and reduce extreme weather events. As citizens we must speak up and demand that all levels of government and industry strive to lower greenhouse gas emissions while preparing for and adapting to a future with increasing risk of fire.

Read More

Rhetoric–not evidence–continues to dominate climate debate and policy

By Kenneth P. Green, Senior Fellow, The Fraser Institute
Cision Newswire
June 17, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC – …The study published by the Fraser Institute, Four Climate Fallacies, dispels several myths about climate change and popular—but ineffective—emission reduction policies, specifically:

  • Capitalism causes climate change: …the more economically free a country is, the more effective it is at protecting its environment and combatting climate change.
  • Even small-emitting countries can do their part to fight climate change: Even if Canada reduced its greenhouse gas emissions to zero, there would be little to no measurable impact in global emissions, …the main drivers of emissions, which are ChinaIndia and the developing world.
  • Vehicle electrification will reduce climate risk and clean the air: …they often are not, and further, have offsetting environmental harms, reducing net environmental/climate benefits.
  • Carbon capture and storage is a viable strategy to combat climate change: While effective at a small scale, the benefits of carbon capture and storage … on a massive scale are limited and questionable.

Read More

The Carbon Tax’s Last Stand – and What Comes After

By Stuart Muir
Resource Works
June 12, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

For years, Canada’s political class sold us on the idea that carbon taxes were clever policy. Not just a tool to cut emissions, but a fair one – tax the polluters, then cycle the money back to regular folks, especially those with thinner wallets. It wasn’t a perfect system. The focus-group-tested line embraced for years by the Trudeau Liberals made no sense at all: we’re taxing you so we can put more money back in your pocketbooks. …That whole model has been thrown overboard, by the very parties had long defended it. …The betrayal is worse in BC …Instead of returning the money, the provincial government slowly transformed the tax into a $2 billion annual cash cow. But here’s the thing: maybe the carbon tax model deserved a rethink. Maybe it’s time for a grown-up look at what actually works. With B.C. now reviewing its CleanBC policies: what’s working, and what’s not?

Read More

BC climate action has reduced emissions, with economic success

By Mark Zacharias (SFU) & Rachel Doran (Clean Energy Canada)
Business in Vancouver
June 1, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Seventeen years on and the evidence is clear: B.C. has moved the needle on emissions. While the province’s population has grown 25% over this period, carbon emissions between 2008 and 2023 are down almost 5% — or nearly 7% if you measure from 2018, when CleanBC was announced. …BC’s industrial sectors, spurred by provincial regulation and investments, have done much of the heavy lifting. Heavy industries, including mining, smelting, pulp and paper, cement, steel, gypsum, and chemicals and fertilizers have seen emission declines of 16% over this period, while oil and gas production emissions are down 30%. …Admittedly, not everything is good news. The province is not on track to meet its 2030 climate target, and many CleanBC policies — including the oil and gas emissions cap, capping emissions from natural gas utilities and the clean transportation action plan — remain incomplete. …BC has announced a review of its CleanBC plan to be completed this fall. 

Read More

Most of Western Canada’s glaciers ‘doomed’ to disappear, researchers find

By Stefan Labbe
Business in Vancouver
May 31, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West, International

Climate change has put Western Canada’s glaciers on track for devastating loss over the coming decades, with the southern half of BC expected to lose nearly 75% of the alpine ice — even if warming stops today, a new study has found. The planet has so far warmed an average of about 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. If that increase climbs to 1.5 degrees C, 81% of Western Canadian and US glacier mass would melt, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Science. …Harry Zekollari, the study’s lead author and a glaciologist at Belgium’s Vrije Universiteit Brussel, said the international research team used eight glacier computer models to analyze the potential long-term evolution of the year-round ice. The results painted a dire picture for the world’s glaciers, as the planet has already locked in enough warming to melt 40% of the Earth’s year-round ice by the end of the century.

Read More

Space-laser AI maps forest carbon in minutes—a game-changer for climate science

By University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
ScienceDaily
June 14, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Satellite data used by archaeologists to find traces of ancient ruins hidden under dense forest canopies can also be used to improve the speed and accuracy to measure how much carbon is retained and released in forests. Understanding this carbon cycle is key to climate change research, according to Hamdi Zurqani, for the Arkansas Forest Resources Center and the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The center is headquartered at UAM and conducts research and extension activities through the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. …In a study recently published in Ecological Informatics, Zurqani shows how information from open-access satellites can be integrated on Google Earth Engine with artificial intelligence algorithms to quickly and accurately map large-scale forest aboveground biomass, even in remote areas where accessibility is often an issue.

Read More

Forest Products Industry Promotes Modernizing Clean Air Act Permitting Program in House Committee on Energy and Commerce Hearing Testimony

American Wood Council
June 11, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

WASHINGTON —  On behalf of the American Wood Council (AWC) and the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), AF&PA Vice President of Public Policy Paul Noe gave oral testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Environment in their hearing titled, “Short-Circuiting Progress: How the Clean Air Act Impacts Building Necessary Infrastructure and Onshoring American Innovation.” In his testimony, Noe applauded legislation that would allow the paper and wood products industry to make capital investments to modernize their manufacturing facilities. …discussion was heard by the committee on two bills that would make critical revisions to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) setting and implementation process that would reduce the type of permit gridlock created when the particulate matter NAAQS was significantly lowered by the previous administration. “We strongly support Congressmen Rick Allen and Buddy Carter in their efforts to address the impacts of air permitting issues on U.S. manufacturing,” said Noe. 

Read More

Does planting trees really help cool the planet?

By Julie Bernstein
University of California, Riverside
May 29, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, International

Replanting forests can help cool the planet even more than some scientists once believed, especially in the tropics. But even if every tree lost since the mid-19th century is replanted, the total effect won’t cancel out human-generated warming. …In a new study published in Communications Earth & Environment, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, showed that restoring forests to their preindustrial extent could lower global average temperatures by 0.34 degrees Celsius. That is roughly one-quarter of the warming the Earth has already experienced. The study is based on an increase in tree area of about 12 million square kilometers, which is 135% of the area of the US. …It is believed the planet has lost nearly half of its trees since the onset of industrialized society.  “Reforestation is not a silver bullet,” said Bob Allen, at UC Riverside and the lead author. “It’s a powerful strategy, but it has to be paired with serious emissions reductions.”

Read More

Wood Pellets: America’s Underrated Power Play

By Darrell Smith
Real Clear Energy
June 5, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

In an energy conversation dominated by buzzwords and breakthroughs, it’s easy to overlook the quiet, proven solutions that are already delivering results. Exhibit A: wood pellets. These compact cylinders aren’t flashy or trend on social media. For the uninitiated, they are carriers of renewable carbon and energy, sourced from responsibly managed forests; a real, scalable, domestic resource that delivers energy security, climate value, and rural jobs while sustaining and growing forests. Wood pellets are emerging as one of the smartest plays in America’s energy and climate portfolio. …Every year, America’s 360 million acres of privately-owned forests grow more wood than we harvest. …Responsible forest management, the kind that thins out fuel for wildfires, not only keeps forests healthy but also supplies feedstock for wood pellets. …This is climate action with a hard hat, not a hashtag. …Wood pellets are real, scalable, renewable and a true American resource.

Read More

Senators Whitehouse and Schiff Introduce Bill to Reduce Wildfire Risk with Innovative Carbon Removal Solutions

By US Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
Government of the United States
June 3, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), and Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced the Wildfire Reduction and Carbon Removal Act of 2025, which would reduce wildfire risk by scaling up carbon removal solutions. Climate change is making wildfires more intense, which is causing hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses each year, generating significant emissions, and creating a catastrophic feedback loop. …The Wildfire Reduction and Carbon Removal Act would create a tax credit to incentivize biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) using flammable fuels in high-risk firesheds, providing much-needed resources for adequate wildfire management, and securely storing the carbon from removed vegetation to reduce overall climate risk. Only biomass meeting region- and ecosystem-specific criteria to maximize fire reduction benefits and avoid environmental harms would be eligible for the credit.

Read More

A forest the size of North America would be needed to offset Big Oil’s reserves, study finds

By Hayley Smith
Los Angeles Times
June 19, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

The world would need to plant a forest the size of North America in order to offset planet-warming emissions from the 200 largest oil and gas companies, new research has found. A study published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment analyzed the economic and ecological benefits of planting trees as a means of balancing potential carbon dioxide emissions from the projected burning of oil reserves held by the fossil fuel industry. …The burning of fossil fuels represents about 90% of planet-warming emissions. …But, as the paper notes, “fossil-fuel companies currently face little incentive to reduce the extraction and use of fossil fuels, and regulatory measures to limit these activities have been slow to materialise.” …Indeed, the researchers acknowledged that the study has limitations as it relies on broad assumptions, including that all existing fossil fuel reserves will be sold and burned.

Read More

Researchers: paper mills generate more greenhouse gases than reported

By Shari Phiel
The Camas-Washougal Post-Record
June 19, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: US West

A new report from Environmental Integrity Project — a national watchdog group founded by Eric Schaffer, former director of the Environmental Protection Agency — claims some paper mills could be generating up to three times more greenhouse gas emissions than reported. Researchers spent six months reviewing state and federal data for 185 pulp and paper mills across the country, combing through thousands of public records, and visited three mills: one in South Carolina, one in Virginia and the Port Townsend Paper Co. mill north of Seattle. “Even in the digital age, we need paper products. But there is no reason a clean sheet of paper needs to be made with dirty fuels and antiquated methods,” Environmental Integrity Project executive director Jen Duggan said in a news release. Of the 185 mills reviewed, 73 percent have outdated boilers still in operation, many dating back to World War II, according to the report

Read More

Study projects that increasing wildfires in Canada and Siberia will actually slow global warming

By Stefan Milne
The University of Washington
June 3, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US West

Even if you live far from the boreal forests in Canada and Siberia, you’ve likely noticed an increase in smoke from their forest fires. During major blazes in 2023, the smoke oranged the New York sky and drifted as far south as New Orleans. These blazes have surged in the last decade due to the effects of climate change — warmer summers, less snow cover in the spring, and the loss of sea ice. Experts expect that trend to continue. Yet recent climate change projection models have not accounted for the increase. For instance, the widely used sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, or CMIP6, released in the late 2010s, kept these fires constant at a relatively low severity. A new University of Washington-led study projects that in the next 35 years these increasing boreal fires will actually slow warming by 12% globally and 38% in the Arctic.

Read More

Rayonier touts alternative energy opportunity as way to boost revenue

By Mark Basch
The Jacksonville Daily Record
June 12, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

Mark McHugh

Rayonier was long known as a forest products company before forming a real estate development subsidiary 20 years ago to profit from its vast land holdings. …In a June 4 presentation to Nareit’s REITweek investor conference, Rayonier CEO Mark McHugh said an emerging trend driving demand for its land is “the energy transition, the need for renewable power and decarbonization solutions.” Rayonier controls about 2 million acres of timberland, some of which has other uses besides harvesting trees. “Increasingly, we’ve come to see ourselves as more of a land resources company,” McHugh said. …“That would include things like leasing land for solar or leasing land for wind farms,” he said. “It would also include leasing land and pore space for carbon capture and storage.” McHugh said leasing land for carbon capture increases the value about fivefold. The company has more than 150,000 acres under lease at the end of 2024.

Read More

Milestone reached on bioenergy plant in Newton County, Texas

By Scott Lawrence
KFDM News
June 10, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

TEXAS — A plan to open a bioenergy plant in Newton County has reached a new milestone with a landmark deal to supply wood for the site in Bon Wier. Mike Lout with KJAS, reports Nick Andrews, President and CEO of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based USA Bioenergy, announced on Tuesday that his company has signed a deal with the LP Corporation to supply the wood. According to LP, the agreement would provide up to 2.2 million tons of wood biomass for an initial term of 20 years that could not only help USA Bioenergy in Bon Wier, but also the logging and timber industry across Southeast Texas and west Louisiana. Andrews has said the main focus of the plant will be to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel commonly known as “SAF” or bio-jetfuel for the airline industry.

Read More

‘Georgetown is at a crossroads;’ 650+ residents sign petition against new biomass plant

By Perrin Moore
ABC15 News
June 9, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

GEORGETOWN, South Carolina — Over 650 Georgetown residents have signed a petition opposing a proposed biomass plant at the site of the International Paper mill that closed last year. The group Citizens for Georgetown says it is working to revitalize the town’s waterfront through “thoughtful redevelopment.” 653 people are opposing the plant that would generate energy for Santee Cooper from tree waste. …Citizens for Georgetown Chairman Tom Swatzel. “Now, we face a critical choice: leave decades of pollution in the land and water, continue with heavy industry OR clean up the site and reimagine these properties into a vibrant, sustainable future that benefits all residents.” …State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch expressed cautious optimism over the proposed plant, saying that it could involve an investment of nearly $4 billion and create new jobs.

 

Read More

New law will require landowners to report enrollment in forest carbon programs

By Kate Cough
AP News
June 2, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

A law signed by Gov. Janet Mills last week requires landowners who are participating in the forest carbon credit market to report basic data — including a landowner’s name, contact information, date of enrollment and total enrolled acreage — to the state on an annual basis, information the state will use to create a database and track the impact of carbon credits on Maine’s forests… Maine landowners have so far been reluctant to participate in the forest carbon market. Reporting in 2022 found that only 3.5 percent of the state’s large landowners have made deals to sell their carbon, despite a market that has been around for decades. Small woodlot owners have also been reluctant to buy in, citing payments too low to justify the costs of complying with rigorous standards. The law will not require landowners to report on the financial value of the credits,  and will redact personal identifying information from reports and public records requests.

Read More

Environmental groups offer support to residents in fight over biomass plant

By Charles Swenson
Coastal Observer
June 2, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

Of the two dozen people who showed up for a meeting to talk about a proposed biomass energy plant in Georgetown, five were from conservation groups. Another five were reporters. The rest were fewer in number than organizers hoped to draw to the 240-seat Soul Saving Station in Georgetown. It stands in the shadow of the International Paper Co. mill that closed last year. Last week’s meeting was planned as a follow-up to one held earlier in the month. 60 people who attended were eager to learn more about the biomass plant and its impacts on the county in general …The state House unanimously approved a bill this year that defines biomass as “renewable and carbon neutral.” …“At first, I thought it was a joke,” said Paul Black, who leads the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal initiative in the state. “This is worse than coal.”

Read More

UK to Scrap Green Levies for Heavy Industry in Push for Growth

By Philip Aldrick
Bloomberg News in the Financial Post
June 22, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Keir Starmer

LONDON — Energy costs will be cut for as many as 7,000 UK businesses as the government scraps green levies to level the playing field with foreign rivals and boost growth under its new ten-year Industrial Strategy. Big users of electricity will be exempted from several climate schemes from 2027 to reduce their bills by as much as 25% and protect 300,000 skilled jobs, the government said. Separately, heavy industries like steel, chemicals and glass will have their network charges, paid to maintain the grid, discounted by 90% from next year – up from 60% currently. …Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the strategy “marks a turning point for Britain’s economy.” …Labour insisted the exemptions would complement its “long-term mission for clean power” and… will be “funded through reforms to the energy system,” specifically higher UK carbon pricing. As part of the recent trade deal with the European Union, the government agreed to rejoin the EU carbon market.

Read More

FutureMetrics: Changing UK Policy Could Boost Demand For Thermally Treated Wood Pellets

By Erin Voegele
Biomass Magazine
June 23, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

FutureMetrics LLC on June 17 published a white paper discussing how expected changes to U.K. bioenergy subsidies could cause the Drax and Lynemouth Power Stations to consider using thermally treated wood pellets. The two facilities are the world’s largest consumers of wood pellet fuel for power generation. Drax operates four 650 megawatt (MW) units that were converted from coal to wood pellets, while Lynmouth operates three 140 MW units that were converted from coal to wood pellets. Together, the facilities consume 8 to 9 million metric tons per year of wood pellets. Most of that fuel is sourced from North America and must be kept dry during storage and transportation. …FutureMetrics explains that this interim subsidy program is expected to create significant changes to the generation profiles of the Drax and Lynmouth facilities, as operations will only be supported when power from the plants is needed to meet demand. 

Read More

Ancient trees are shipped to the UK, then burned – using billions in ‘green’ subsidies. Stop this madness now

By Dale Vince, owner of Ecotricity
The Guardian
June 21, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Dale Vince

[Opinion by Dale Vince] How green is this? We pay billions of pounds to cut down ancient forests in the US and Canada, ship the wood across the Atlantic in diesel tankers, then burn it in a Yorkshire-based power station. Welcome to the scandal of Drax, where Britain’s biggest polluter gets to play climate hero. The reality is that billions in public subsidies has enabled Drax to generate electricity by burning 300m trees. Now the government is trying to force through an extension that would grant Drax an estimated £1.8bn in public subsidies on top of the £11bn it has already pocketed, keeping this circus going until at least 2031. This isn’t green energy. The mathematics alone should horrify anyone who cares about value for money or the environment. Burning wood creates 18% more CO2 emissions than coal. Even if you replant every tree Drax destroys, it takes up to a century for new growth to reabsorb the carbon released.

Read More

Biomass satellite returns striking first images of forests and more

The European Space Agency
June 23, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Today, at the Living Planet Symposium, ESA revealed the first stunning images from its groundbreaking Biomass satellite mission – marking a major leap forward in our ability to understand how Earth’s forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle. But these inaugural glimpses go beyond forests. Remarkably, the satellite is already showing potential to unlock new insights into some of Earth’s most extreme environments. Biomass – an Earth Explorer research mission developed within ESA’s FutureEO programme – was launch less than two months ago. This new mission is, therefore, still in the process of being commissioned, but its first set of images are stunning none the less. …Biomass is the first satellite to carry a P-band synthetic aperture radar, its signal capable of penetrating forest canopies to measure woody biomass – trunks, branches and stems. These measurements serve as a proxy for carbon storage, the assessment of which is the mission’s primary objective.

Read More

Innovative guide to scaling up smart use of fast-growing trees

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
June 18, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The International Commission on Poplars and Other Fast-Growing Trees Sustaining People and the Environment (IPC) hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today published a comprehensive guide on the innovative use of fast-growing trees to help sustain people and the environment amid the climate crisis. The report explains the qualities of different species of fast-growing trees and the economic and environmental benefits they bring in a wide range of settings when managed sustainably. It also outlines the potential to maximise those benefits globally using the latest science and innovative practices. “Fast-growing trees have a strategic role to developing a thriving global bioeconomy,” said Zhimin Wu, Director of FAO’s Forestry Division. “They also provide livelihoods for local communities and hold significant potential for combating climate change.”

Read More

DS Smith activates €90m biomass boiler at Rouen mill

Bioenergy Insight Magazine
June 18, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

DS Smith has brought online a €90 million biomass boiler at its Rouen paper mill in Normandy, France – one of Europe’s largest mill energy transitions to date. The new system replaces the site’s coal-fired boiler with a low-carbon, circular solution powered by locally sourced biomass waste. The project is expected to cut CO₂ emissions by 99,000 tonnes annually – equivalent to removing 40,000 cars from the road or powering 13,000 French homes each year. The boiler will process around 94,000 tonnes of biomass fuel each year, including industrial and municipal waste wood – mainly from the Paris and Normandy regions – as well as paper production by-products. Up to 70,000 tonnes of wood waste will be diverted from landfill annually, supporting DS Smith’s 2030 zero-landfill target.

Read More

Who really holds the rights to trees and carbon in the Philippines?

By Angela Arnante
BusinessWorld
June 16, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The Phillipines sits on a goldmine of forest and carbon wealth. But an unclear and short-sighted property rights regime is choking its potential; existing rules are partially to be blamed. Forest lands, which are State-owned lands, span 15.8 million hectares or half of the country’s total land area. The 1987 Constitution states that all lands of the public domain, forest lands included, belong to the State. It can either manage them directly or partner with private entities, as long as Filipino citizens own at least 60% of the company involved and these agreements last 25 years, renewable for another 25. This legal framework along with existing policies, designed to regulate the exploitation of natural resources like mining and logging, now constrains investment in regenerative and non-extractive activities such as reforestation and carbon sequestration… The current tenure framework on forest lands does not match the biological and economic realities of forest and carbon development.

Read More

New Zealand government sued over ‘dangerously inadequate’ emissions reduction plan

By Eva Corlett
The Guardian
June 10, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Hundreds of top environment lawyers are suing the New Zealand government over what they say is its “dangerously inadequate” plan to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050. It is the first time the country’s emissions reduction plan has faced litigation, and the lawyers believe it is the first case globally that challenges the use of forestry to offset emissions. …two groups representing more than 300 lawyers filed judicial review proceedings against the government in Wellington’s high court on Tuesday. The groups … claim … the government has abandoned dozens of tools to tackle emissions, failed to adequately consult the public, and too heavily relies on high-risk carbon capture strategies such as forestry. …They claim that the government is relying on “high risk” methods such as planting hundreds of thousands of hectares of introduced pine trees to offset emissions, and capturing carbon underground, with few alternatives to fall back on if something goes wrong.

Read More

Climate strikes the Amazon, undermining protection efforts

By Rhett Ayers Butler, Founder of Mongabay
Mongabay
June 5, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Fires raged across the Amazon rainforest, annihilating more than 4.6 million hectares of primary tropical forest—the most biodiverse and carbon-dense type of forest on Earth. …It was the highest loss for the biome since annual records began in 2002. Sixty percent of that destruction was caused by fire—a record high. In Brazil, deforestation has plunged under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who moved swiftly to reassert environmental governance. But nature had other plans. Blistering temperatures and the worst drought in 70 years—fueled by climate change and compounded by El Niño—turned routine agricultural burns into runaway infernos. Lula’s reforms proved no match for an accelerating climate crisis or the long tail of past mismanagement. …What burns today is not only forest—it is also the hope that nature alone will heal. Without a concerted global response, the Amazon may soon pass the point of no return.

Read More

New model evaluates efficiency of pistachio and walnut shells as low carbon fuels

University of Nottingham
June 4, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Researchers from the University of Nottingham and CSIRO Australia have developed a pioneering combined milling and combustion performance model to improve the selection of low carbon fuels for power generation. Published in the Journal of the Energy Institute, the study evaluates the milling and combustion properties of five biomass types—pistachio shells, walnut shells, rice husks, palm kernel shells, and wood pellets. Currently, around 8.3 million tonnes of biomass is used annually for pulverised fuel (PF) combustion in the UK, which accounts for 21% of the global wood pellet market. This is dominated by wood pellets and wood chips, followed by recycled and waste wood, with other types of biomasses making up only around 1% of the total. The majority of the UK wood pellet demand is also met by imports, with the United States and Canada being the major suppliers.

Read More

Mining giant Rio Tinto growing native pongamia trees for biofuel potential

ABC News Australia
June 2, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Rio Tinto has started growing pongamia trees in northern Australia, as part of a biofuels project aimed at reducing the mining giant’s reliance on fossil fuels. Pongamia trees are native to Australia and produce oil-rich seeds that can be processed into renewable diesel… Earlier this year, Rio Tinto trialled 10 million litres of renewable diesel — created from used cooking oil — across its Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. The biofuel got used across the supply chain, featuring in Rio Tinto’s rail, marine, haul trucks, surface mining equipment and light vehicles… Forestry Industry Association of the Northern Territory (FIANT) manager Hanna Lillicrap said it was great to see a major mining company getting involved in the forestry sector. “It reflects a growing recognition of the role forestry can play as a climate-positive solution in emissions reduction strategies,” she said. “It’s great to see serious investment going into research to better understand the species and its potential,” she said.

Read More

Toyota’s Biofuel: a new lease on life for combustion engines

Global Fleet
June 1, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Even if conversations are dominated by electrification, Toyota is working on a different course to keep combustion engines relevant. A recent Nikkei Asia report reveals that Japanese automakers led by Toyota have opened a bioethanol facility in Fukushima, aiming to slash the carbon footprint of conventional engines with a new kind of “better biofuel”. …What sets this project apart is its focus on second-generation biofuels: non-edible plants and agricultural waste serve as the feedstock, rather than food crops like corn or sugarcane. By avoiding feedstocks that compete with food supply, Toyota’s program addresses a key criticism of traditional biofuels. …The choice of Fukushima for the facility is symbolic. The site reuses land in an area devastated by the 2011 nuclear disaster, turning “disaster zones” into productive, green-energy facilities. In doing so, Toyota’s project ties regional recovery to climate innovation. …Feedstock: Uses non-food biomass (e.g. wood chips, rice straw, plant waste) instead of edible crops.

Read More

Calls for Drax to be forced to fully disclose its biomass sourcing

By Fiona Harvey and Jillian Ambrose
The Guardian
June 2, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Screenshot

The owner of the Drax wood-burning power station should be forced to disclose full details of its tree consumption, campaigners have argued, as MPs review the billions in renewables subsidies the North Yorkshire plant receives. A delegated legislation committee will decide on Monday whether to pass the government’s plans to extend billpayer-funded subsidies to the country’s biomass power generators, of which Drax is by far the biggest. Green campaigners said a condition of any extension should be that Drax published a key report by KPMG into its operations and sourcing. Reports by the auditor have been provided to the government and the energy regulator Ofgem but not the public. Ofgem has said KPMG shows Drax has not breached rules on sourcing trees for burning from environmentally sustainable forests.

Read More