Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Trees and improved woodland management are key in both adapting to climate change and reaching UK Government goal of Net Zero by 2050. A new online Climate Change Hub centralises information on forestry and climate change adaptation. The Hub features UK Forestry Standard guidance and includes fact sheets, videos and case studies to ensure our woodlands are fit for the future. The Climate Change Hub – which centralises the latest resources, information and guidance on climate change adaptation to support landowners, woodland managers and forestry practitioners in addressing climate change threats – was launched by Defra, Forest Research, Scottish Forestry and Welsh Government today (Monday 20 February).

SABABURG, Germany — Ralf Paschold, a wind energy entrepreneur, points at a tree-covered ridge off in the distance. “For the next 30 years,” he said, “I will produce energy there.” …Paschold has built wind farms in Canada, France and other parts of Germany. Now he plans to build 18 wind turbines here in the Reinhardswald. Overall, the forest is 20,000 hectares, but Paschold only wants to use 14 hectares where drought and a beetle infestation have killed the trees for his turbines. …Germany is already big on wind: with nearly 30,000 onshore wind turbines. But it’s not enough to meet the country’s climate goals. …But these decisions are often met with fierce resistance from locals. …Complicated regulations, a lack of government workers to process the paperwork, and efforts to keep wind turbines away from animals’ natural habitats are also preventing the sector from developing as the government wants, Paschold says.

Europe has been steadily transitioning towards renewable sources of energy for their electricity generation, making considerable progress over the last decade. In 2011, fossil fuels made up 49% of the EU’s electricity production while renewable energy sources only made up 18%. A decade later, renewable energy sources are coming close to equaling fossil fuels, with renewables making up 32% of the EU’s electricity generation compared to fossil fuels’ 36% in 2021. The expansion of wind and solar generation have been the primary drivers in this shift towards renewables, going from only generating 8% of the EU’s electricity in 2011 all the way to 19% in 2021. …Nuclear energy is the largest single source of electricity generation despite its decline over the past couple of decades. …A new report highlights solar and wind power (22%) overtaking natural gas (20%) in electricity generation for the first time ever.

An updated guide written by eight conservation and Indigenous organizations offers a detailed path forward for companies that want to offset their carbon emissions. Though the carbon market faces criticism over the true value it brings to climate change mitigation, proponents say it can complement earnest efforts to decarbonize supply chains if used properly. The updated Tropical Forest Credit Integrity guide calls for due diligence on the part of companies to ensure the credits they purchase will result in climate gains. The authors of the guide also stress the importance of including Indigenous peoples and local communities in decisions about offset projects.

Warming temperatures unleash termites in more areas of the world, and more termites may actually accelerate warming temperatures. Scientists say it’s time for climate prediction models to take note. Not only do termites find warm and humid climates more hospitable, but they consume and decay wood at much higher rates in such climates, according to an international team of scientists including Florida International University biologist Oscar Valverde-Barrantes. As the termites consume wood, they release stored carbon into the atmosphere. More carbon dioxide means higher temperatures—a vicious cycle not currently accounted for in current climate predictions, Valverde-Barrantes said. …Using climatic models, the scientists concluded that termite habitats could increase by more than 30 percent of their current range. As they consume more wood, they will release carbon that has been stored in previously untapped forests for hundreds of years. 

Nippon Paper Industries Co. Ltd., Sumitomo Corp. and Green Earth Institute Co. Ltd. agreed to look into the production of wood-based cellulosic bioethanol in Japan and its development into products including sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, Nippon Paper said in a statement. Under the agreement the companies will study the possibility of producing “several tens of thousands of kiloliters per year of bioethanol” derived from domestic timber at Nippon Paper’s mills in the fiscal year 2027. Nippon Paper said the bioethanol’s main use will be as a feedstock for SAF. Earlier this year the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that total production of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, tripled in 2022, reaching at least 300 million liters, or about 79.3 million gallons compared with 100 million liters, or 26.4 million gallons, the previous year.

Genesis Energy and Fonterra want to use wood biomass to generate electricity and heat. Genesis interim chief executive Tracey Hickman said the companies signed an agreement to work together and explore the viability of biomass as a substitute for coal. The possibility of a domestic biomass supply chain would also be investigated. The companies had signed a biomass collaboration agreement as they looked for an alternative fuel source to help decarbonise the businesses, she said. The agreement came ahead of a trial to burn biomass at Genesis’ Huntly Power Station next week, Hickman said. …The biomass used in the trial was black torrefied biomass was made from tree sawdust. The process created a solid and uniform pellets that had about 30% more energy than raw biomass, Hickman said. Burned torrefied biomass generally produced less than 10% of the emissions of coal, she said.

A sharp rise in wood burning in urban areas could be bringing harmful pollution to greater numbers of people, and shifting the pattern of pollution from poorer to more affluent areas, one of the UK’s leading air pollution experts has warned. Currently, air pollution monitoring focuses on busy roads, which have been the main hotspots for fine particulate matter (known as PM2.5) and other air pollutants, largely from diesel vehicles. That means researchers could be missing the creation of new hotspots from wood-burning stoves… “As a first step people have to understand that the wood smoke could be harming their health. People need to understand that the wood smoke that fills their neighbourhood is as harmful as the air pollution from traffic or industry,” Fuller told the Guardian.

A collaboration between the Confederation of European Paper Industries (Cepi) and the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) is aiming to save 50% of energy used in paper manufacturing and assist its decarbonisation by implementing heat pumps into existing paper mills. Heat pumps provide around 10% of Europe’s industrial energy demand and help lower the industrial emissions of multiple sectors. Large heat pumps and steam compressors capable of heating up to 200°C have recently become commercially available in a development expected to suit the needs of the pulp and paper industry. …A joint Cepi-EHPA paper has also detailed the ways in which heat pumps could be integrated into paper mills. The companies are now calling upon EU regulators to double down on the electrification of the paper and pulp industry… to align with the EU Green Deal Industry Plan.

France is seeking a waiver to EU bioenergy rules that would allow the forest-covered territory of French Guiana to receive subsidies to produce biofuels for the space industry. Wedged between Brazil and Suriname, the overseas department has little in common with mainland France bar the name. …The loophole would allow French Guiana to receive public financing to produce biofuels “especially for the space sector”. Local lawmakers argue the dispensation is necessary to protect French Guiana’s forestry sector and accelerate its energy transition. But campaigners have warned the exemption risks setting an incentive for increased logging. …Authorities in French Guiana argue the EU’s proposed rules threatened the territory’s goal to move away from fossil fuels, including at the spaceport, which consumes 18% of the electricity produced locally. By 2030, French Guiana wants 25% of its electricity mix to come from woody biomass.

LONDON — An investor group committed to climate change and controlling $11 trillion in assets has banned members from counting carbon removal schemes towards their emissions reduction targets before 2030, amid increasing scrutiny of the fast-growing market for carbon offsets. The Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance said on Tuesday it wanted its members to focus in the first instance on encouraging investee companies to reduce emissions across all sectors, rather than removing carbon that has already been emitted by, for example, planting large numbers of trees. The move reflects broad concerns about the quality of some carbon removal schemes and criticism of companies that buy carbon credits instead of improving their own carbon footprints, however the United Nations has said that carbon removal will be required to slow or stop climate change by 2050. The new policy applies to their members and the companies in which they invest. 

European Parliament’s proposal is amending the Renewable Energy Resources Directive. Although at their core amendments do not mean a full ban on use of biomass as fuel, they do provide for excluding primary forest biomass from all state support plans, renewable energy goal and longevity criteria. The intended amendments, the ministry warns, would mean additional emission quotas for wood chips. This would make bioenergy financially unattractive. …The statement from the ministry mentions this proposal could put at risk EU member states’ ability to ensure energy security using local renewable energy, which may, in turn, undermine EU’s movement towards climate neutrality. The proposal may promote use of fossil fuel and imported energy resources, so that member states are able to supply themselves with necessary energy, especially heating energy. In the event this proposal is passed, bioenergy may lose its advantages.