Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

With European manufacturing output down by up to 40% since 2018, and 200,000 industrial jobs lost last year, the European Confederation of the Paper Industry (Cepi) wants to put biomass, circularity and decarbonization financing back at the heart of the industrial debate. The trade organization relies on a report commissioned from Deloitte. According to this analysis… the use of biomass and efficiency in the circularity of materials are structural advantages for European industry in the face of imported fossil products. The report highlights the fact that the forestry and timber industry, which is already governed by national legislation, has to contend with over a hundred additional European regulations. In Cepi’s view, this overlap is holding back biomass-related industrial development. Moreover, paper collection and recycling remains fragmented across the member states. This heterogeneity complicates the optimization of secondary material flows, despite the fact that paper is one of the most recycled materials in Europe.

When the time is right, a good love song can make all the difference. A study from the University of California, Davis, found that temperature affects the sound and quality of male frogs’ mating calls. In the colder, early weeks of spring, their songs start off sluggishly. In warmer weather, their songs pick up the pace, and female frogs take note. Better songs make the males more attractive mates and suggest to females that conditions are suitable for reproduction. …The results carry implications for conservation amid climate change. …Understanding when frogs breed, how that may shift as the climate warms, and what is driving those shifts is critical to their conservation. …females do not necessarily come to the pond just because the males are calling. The time has to be right for her eggs to survive. That clue lies in the quality of the male’s song, which is more attractive once it’s warmer. 

Scotland would have to plant several hundred thousand hectares of new woodland to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the livestock sector by 2050 through afforestation alone, a new study has shown. The study by The James Hutton Institute, which was recently published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, investigated how multi-functional afforestation and livestock reduction could contribute to helping Scotland achieve net-zero emissions in the livestock sector by 2050. This goal aligns with the Paris Agreement on climate change. Researchers have simulated a scenario in which approximately 30,000ha per year of new woodland and agroforestry were planted in Scotland between 2020 and 2025. …It is often assumed such planting can only occur at the expense of grazing area, so the researchers coupled this planting effort with a linear decrease in livestock, with an estimated total reduction of approximately 50% of the present herd numbers.

Boreal ecosystems store twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and warm faster than the global average. The current paradigm based on boreal forests and tundra considers that warming will accelerate boreal carbon loss. However, the warming response of Sphagnum peatlands, storing ~40% of boreal carbon stocks, remains under-investigated. …investigations into two long-term warming experiments in Finnish peatlands, we demonstrate that warming enhances soil carbon accumulation in boreal Sphagnum peatlands. This result sharply contrasts with warming-induced carbon loss from boreal forests and tundra, owing to the unique metabolic response of Sphagnum… Our estimates suggest that warming-induced increase of soil carbon in boreal Sphagnum peatlands (assuming no hydrological changes or plant species shifts) may offset nearly half the boreal forest carbon-sink decline or heterotrophic respiration increases in Arctic tundra under warming. These findings highlight the vital but overlooked role of Sphagnum peatlands in counteracting boreal carbon loss under future warming.

The global economy must be radically transformed to stop it rewarding pollution and waste, UN secretary general António Guterres has warned. Speaking to the Guardian after the UN hosted a meeting of leading global economists, Guterres said humanity’s future required the urgent overhaul of the world’s “existing accounting systems” he said were driving the planet to the brink of disaster. “We must place true value on the environment and go beyond gross domestic product as a measure of human progress and wellbeing. Let us not forget that when we destroy a forest, we are creating GDP. …In January, the UN held a conference in Geneva titled Beyond GDP attended by senior economists from around the world. …A report published by the group late last year argued that… the need for an economic transformation had become increasingly urgent.

Forest soils have an important role in protecting our climate: they remove large quantities of methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – from our atmosphere. Researchers from the University of Göttingen and the Baden-Württemberg Forest Research Institute (FVA) evaluated the world’s most comprehensive data set on methane uptake by forest soils. They discovered that under certain climate conditions, which may become more common in the future, their capacity to absorb methane actually increases. The data is based on regular measurements at 13 forest plots in south-western Germany over periods of up to 24 years. The study found forest soils absorb an average of three percent more methane per year. The researchers attribute this to the climate: declining rainfall leads to drier soils which methane penetrates more easily than moist soils. In addition, microorganisms break down methane more quickly as temperatures rise.

The energy industry initially sold wood pellets as a way to clean up coal. And governments bought into that assumption. But now policymakers are questioning that position and even reversing course. At the center of this debate is a UK-based power company called Drax, which converted Europe’s largest coal plant into a biomass facility—one fueled by wood pellets that it imported from southern states in the United States. The debate raises a multitude of questions, namely those centered on pollution and costs. That is, if the additive creates more pollution than either wind or solar energy, why bother, especially since it comes from a power source that depends on subsidies? Merry Dickinson, campaign director for the Dogwood Alliance, told me that Drax now operates entirely on woody biomass… “The amount of wood required … is beyond what is available as waste wood,” Dickinson says. “…much of the supply consists of whole trees.” [Forbes allows 4 free articles per month]

A new study has shown for the first time that waste cardboard can be used as an effective source of biomass fuel for large-scale power generation, offering a potential new domestic resource to support the UK’s renewable energy sector. Engineers from the University of Nottingham have carried out the first comprehensive characterisation of cardboard as a fuel source and developed a new method to assess its composition. The research … provides a practical tool for evaluating different grades of cardboard for use in energy production. The study found that cardboard displays distinct physical and chemical properties compared with traditional biomass fuels. These include lower carbon content, a reduced heating value and a high level of calcium carbonate fillers, particularly in printed grades. Calcium carbonate is commonly added to cardboard to improve stiffness and optical qualities, but during combustion it forms ash that can reduce boiler performance.

WASHINGTON — EARTHDAY.ORG, together with partners worldwide, today announces the global theme for Earth Day 2026: Our Power, Our Planet–a rallying cry for people everywhere to reclaim their voice, their rights, and their future. Other than limited signs of progress, 2025 was a year marked by extraordinary environmental retrenchment. The current Administration took more than 400 actions ranging from sweeping executive orders to obscure regulatory changes, that are causing irreversible damage to every facet of the global environment. Across the world, environmental safeguards that took generations to defend and create are under relentless attack; stripped away to the benefit of polluters while communities pay the price with their health, livelihoods, and lives. The belief that progress can be secured quietly, through good-faith negotiations alone is no longer a reflection of reality. Real change requires persistent public pressure that is impossible to ignore.

AUSTRALIA — Our research has uncovered the hidden world of the tiny organisms living in the bark of trees. We discovered they are quietly helping to purify the air and remove greenhouse gases. These microbes “eat”, or use, gases like methane and carbon monoxide for energy and survival. Most significantly, they also remove hydrogen, which has a role in super-charging climate change. …Bark was long assumed to be largely biologically inert in relation to climate. But our findings show it hosts active microbial communities that influence key atmospheric gases. …Over the past five years, collaborative research between Southern Cross and Monash universities studied the bark of eight common Australian tree species. We found the trees in these contrasting ecosystems all shared one thing in common: their bark was teeming with microscopic life. …Trees could be a major, previously unrecognised, global natural system for drawing down hydrogen out of the atmosphere.

Forest management has entered a phase defined by competing pressures. Fire risk is rising. Biomass residues are accumulating. Carbon accounting expectations are tightening. Pyrolysis has emerged as a technical lever capable of addressing these constraints simultaneously. Its value lies not in abstract sustainability claims, but in its operational and ecological consequences when integrated into forestry systems. Reducing Fuel Load and Wildfire IntensitymOne of the most immediate benefits of pyrolysis in forest management is fuel load reduction. Thinning operations, deadwood removal, and post-harvest residues generate large volumes of low-grade biomass. When left unmanaged, this material increases wildfire probability and severity. …When treated as an ancillary technology, pyrolysis underperforms. When embedded as a strategic tool, it amplifies the effectiveness of existing management practices. Pyrolysis contributes by connecting fuel reduction, carbon management, soil health, and economic viability within a single operational logic. 

Last year will be remembered as a real test of commitment for the global sustainability agenda. Political uncertainty and regulatory rollbacks, particularly the weakening of flagship EU legislation such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and yet another delay in enforcing the European Union Deforestation Regulation, signal a troubling loss of resolve. These decisions reward inaction and deter the very ambition needed to secure long-term economic and environmental resilience. But the crisis of nature loss should not be left to the shifting winds of policy; it requires businesses to step forward and lead the way. As we enter 2026, a pivotal triple-COP year for climate, biodiversity and desertification, it’s time to look past the political noise. While compliance meets today’s requirements, only a deeper commitment to the environment can protect a business against the lasting costs of nature loss. 

NEW ZEALAND — Let’s not sugar coat it: this year was a tough year for forestry in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). It’s especially frustrating as we had begun to believe the government’s promise, made just after it took power in late 2023, to “restore credibility in the ETS”. Indeed, this promise looked plausible up until quite recently. After all, the LUC restrictions, while unpopular among forestry companies and investors, had been clearly communicated long before the 2023 election. So no surprises there – except for a pleasant surprise in August, when the government announced it would not adopt the Climate Change Commission’s somewhat perplexing recommendation to reinject about 14 million of unsold auction NZUs from 2028 to 2030. The positive streak finally ended in October when the government began a staccato of policy tweaks that have cumulatively undermined confidence in the government’s commitment to climate change mitigation and, by extension, the ETS.

Marty Odlin

With support from Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify, Running Tide billed itself as on the cutting edge of carbon removal. In the end, it resorted to dumping thousands of tons of wood chips in the sea.  American Marty Odlin spoke at a town hall meeting in Akranes, Iceland. Odlin, the founder of a US climate startup called Running Tide, had become a well-known figure around Akranes that summer of 2022… He was setting up a base of operations in a nearby harbor, planning to unleash a counteroffensive against climate change. Odlin had outlined a plan to create jobs in this former fishing hub of 8,000. He’d need people to help sink huge volumes of biomass in the surrounding ocean. …Hróbjartsson, Running Tide’s former general manager, is skeptical about how much positive impact the marine carbon-removal industry can have. “We’re just making a prettier carbon-offset market,” he says of the industry. “It’s lipstick on a pig.”

The authors of a highly publicized study predicting climate change would cost $38 trillion a year by 2049 have retracted their paper following criticism of the data and methodology, including that the estimate is inflated. “The economic commitment of climate change,” which appeared April 17, 2024, in Nature, looked at how changes in temperature and precipitation could affect economic growth. Forbes, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other outlets covered the paper, which has been accessed over 300,000 times. It has been cited 168 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science. But after two commentaries published this August raised questions about the study’s data and methodology, the researchers revisited their findings. “The authors acknowledge that these changes are too substantial for a correction,” the retraction notice, published today, states. The authors, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, revised their analysis… and plan to submit a revision for peer review.

In related coverage:

• Bloomberg: One retracted study doesn’t cancel climate science
• Euronews: Major study on catastrophic cost of climate change retracted – but revised figures remain alarming
• Wall Street Journal: A much-hyped climate study in the journal Nature turns out to have been full of errors

Britain’s reliance on burning wood to generate electricity has reached record highs, even as the government moves to curb the controversial use of biomass power. The latest figures supplied by the owner of the giant Drax biomass plant in North Yorkshire have revealed that power generated from burning biomass wood pellets provided 9% of the UK’s electricity in July, its largest ever monthly share. Weeks later, biomass provided almost a fifth (17%) of the UK’s electricity for the first time during one morning in September when renewable energy resources were particularly low. Britain’s record reliance on biomass generation has reached new heights as the government set out its plans to dramatically reduce the controversial energy source under a new subsidy agreement with the FTSE 250 owner of the Drax power plant.

The 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30) concluded on 22 November in Belém, Brazil with the ‘Mutirão text’ – an outcome document that reinforces global commitments for climate action. …FSC Brazil, as the host-country FSC network partner, played a crucial role in engaging Brazilian stakeholders. …Taking place in the heart of the Amazon, COP 30 underscored the importance of forests at the centre of climate and biodiversity solutions. While the final Mutirão text did not include a roadmap to halt and reverse deforestation, the Brazilian presidency committed to create roadmaps both for deforestation and fossil-fuels phase out to support implementation of these priorities. Over 90 countries backed the idea of the deforestation roadmap, including 50 rainforest nations, signalling advanced consensus and paving the way for a possible binding agreement in the future. …The global community shifts it focus from the Amazon to Antalya, Turkey where COP 31 will take place under Australia’s presidency. 

As he officially opened COP30, Brazil’s president, Lula Inacio da Silva said “the world will finally be able to say that it truly knows the reality of the Amazon”. …Last year the biggest cause of forest loss in the Amazon was fires, which were ignited to clear land for agricultural expansion or illegal mining. Despite a pledge made at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, another 8.1 million hectares of forest were lost globally last year. Lula called for a consensus on a roadmap to deliver on the Glasgow deforestation promise. …But while more than 90 countries supported a deforestation roadmap, opposition from the likes of Saudi Arabia, Russia and India meant deforestation failed to make it to the final agreement, and COP president Andre Correa do Lago said Brazil would continue to work on developing one over the next year, to present at COP 31 in Turkey.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has unveiled a new plan to end the dominance of planet-heating fossil fuels in Europe’s economy — and replace them with trees. The Bioeconomy Strategy aims to replace fossil fuels in products like plastics, building materials, chemicals and fibers with organic materials that regrow, such as trees. “The bioeconomy holds enormous opportunities for our society, economy and industry,” EU environment chief Jessika Roswall said, in front of a staged backdrop of bio-based products, including a bathtub made of wood composite and clothing from the H&M “Conscious” range. …The bioeconomy strategy aims to address both drawbacks by using locally produced or recycled carbon-rich biomass rather than imported fossil fuels. …“The forest industry welcomes the Commission’s approach,” said Viveka Beckeman, of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, stressing the need to “boost the use of biomass as a strategic resource that benefits not only green transition but the overall economic security.”

Africa’s forests have turned from a carbon sink into a carbon source, according to research that underscores the need for urgent action to save the world’s great natural climate stabilisers. The alarming shift, which has happened since 2010, means all of the planet’s three main rainforest regions – the South American Amazon, south-east Asia and Africa – are now part of the problem. Human activity is the primary cause of the problem. Farmers are clearing more land for food production. Infrastructure projects and mining are exacerbating the loss of vegetation and global heating – caused by the burning of gas, oil and coal – thereby degrading the resilience of ecosystems. …The worst affected were the tropical moist broadleaf forests in Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and parts of west Africa. The study, published in Scientific Reports, was led by researchers at the Universities of Leicester, Sheffield and Edinburgh. 

In response to an article published by The Guardian regarding our Canadian sustainable biomass operations, Miguel Veiga-Pestana, Drax’s Chief Sustainability Officer, wrote this response: The environmental non-profit Stand.earth fails to see the wood from the trees when it comes to the Canadian forestry industry and Drax’s limited role within it (Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say, 9 November). We do not own forests or sawmills, and we do not decide what areas are approved for harvesting. The vast majority (81%) of our Canadian fibre came from sawdust and other sawmill residues created when sawmills produce wood products used in construction and other industries in 2024. The remaining 19% of our fibre came from forest residues, including low-grade roundwood, tops, branches and bark. Forests in British Columbia are harvested for lumber by timber companies under strict regulations set by the province’s government in joint decision-making with indigenous First Nations. [Story is also carried by Drax here]

The European Commission has adopted a new Strategic Framework for a Competitive and Sustainable EU Bioeconomy to strengthen Europe’s industrial base, reduce fossil fuel dependence, and build a circular, decarbonised economy, according to the European Commission. …The new Strategy seeks to expand this contribution by scaling up innovation and investments, developing lead markets for bio-based materials, and ensuring a sustainable supply of biomass. The Commission will establish a Bioeconomy Investment Deployment Group to mobilise private capital and create a pipeline of viable projects. It will also work to simplify EU regulatory frameworks to accelerate the approval of sustainable bio-based products, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. …The Strategy emphasises sustainable biomass sourcing within ecological limits. It includes incentives for farmers and foresters who protect soils, enhance carbon sinks, and promote the use of secondary biomass such as agricultural residues and organic waste.

Marina Silva

BELEM, Brazil – Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva fought back tears as global diplomats applauded her for several minutes in the closing plenary of the COP30 summit. “We’ve made progress, albeit modestly,” she told delegates. … It was a moment of catharsis for the Brazilian hosts in a tense hall where several nations vented frustration with a deal that failed to mention fossil fuels – even as they cheered more funds for developing nations adapting to climate change. Despite the bittersweet outcome, COP30 capped years of work by the environment minister and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to restore Brazil’s leadership on global climate policy. Back in Brasilia, a harsher political reality looms. Congress has been pushing to dismantle much of the country’s environmental permitting system. Organized crime in the Amazon is also a problem, and people seeking to clear forest acres have found new ways to infiltrate and thwart groups touting sustainable development.

A new report by the Forests & Finance Coalition finds that despite years of voluntary climate commitments, banks and other financial institutions have continued to increase their investments in companies linked to deforestation. The value of investments in these companies — in industries such as beef, soy, palm oil and paper — has increased by almost $8 billion since the Paris Agreement was signed a decade ago, the report finds. As of September 2025, investors held $42 billion in bonds and shares in more than 191 forest-risk companies identified in the report. The three largest investors are Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Employees Provident Fund, both Malaysian state-owned entities, and U.S. investment manager Vanguard. …“A decade after the Paris Agreement, we see little to no action from banks and investors to stop the money pipeline to tropical forest destruction,” said Merel van der Mark, co-author of the report.