This month, in the wake of intensive scrutiny from policymakers and civil society, two federal departments, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Energy and Natural Resources Canada, are launching a review of how the federal government accounts for GHG emissions from the forestry sector. …Unfortunately, the review is leaving one of the biggest issues — a biased approach to reporting emissions from industrial logging — off the table. …This unbalanced accounting for wildfires leads to the misleading portrayal of clearcut logging in Canada as carbon-neutral when, in fact, logging is a carbon polluter on the scale of the high-emitting agriculture and building sectors. …Instead, the review only addresses the question of what baseline should be used to assess progress in emissions reductions in the sector (2005 or a business-as-usual reference level). It ignores calls from the environment commissioner and others to also review the way Canada estimates and reports logging emissions.
As Canada continues to experience warmer-than-usual temperatures this winter, the country must gear up for extreme weather events, including drought, wildfires and floods in the spring and summer, experts told Global News. Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell said this year’s high temperatures were due to El Niño, which is a phenomenon where the water in the equatorial region of the Pacific warms and weather patterns across North America change. “This year was likely even warmer because of the effects of climate change. In the last few days, winter has returned to Western Canada but a large ridge is pumping very mild air across the eastern half of the country,” Farnell said. Kent Moore, a professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Toronto Mississauga, said this warm weather has also meant reduced precipitation.
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TIMMINS – The Government of Ontario is making an historic investment of $60 million in the Forest Biomass Program. Over the next three years, the program will make targeted investments in forest sector initiatives to develop the economic potential and environmental benefits of underutilized wood and mill by-products, known as forest biomass. “This new Forest Biomass Program funding will grow businesses, strengthen communities and put workers to work,” said Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. “We are investing in the technology, the people and the expertise that drive our forest sector into the future – and together, we are achieving our government’s plan for forest sector prosperity.” The announcement of additional funding follows the Forest Biomass Program’s third phase of investment, which committed more than $6.1 million to 12 research, innovation and modernization initiatives.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved a rule that will require some public companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, after last-minute revisions that weakened the directive in the face of strong pushback from companies. The rule was one of the most anticipated in recent years from the nation’s top financial regulator, drawing more than 24,000 comments from companies, auditors, legislators and trade groups over a two-year process. It brings the U.S. closer to the European Union and California, which moved ahead earlier with corporate climate disclosure rules. …Since the SEC proposed a rule two years ago, experts had said it was likely to face litigation almost immediately. …The weakened rule doesn’t require companies to report some indirect emissions known as Scope 3. Those don’t come from a company or its operations, but happen along its supply chain or that result when a consumer uses a product, such as gasoline.
TRUCKEE, Calif. – Golden State Natural Resources (GSNR) is initiating a project aimed at enhancing the resilience of California’s forestlands by acquiring and processing surplus biomass into pelletized fuel. GSNR is optimistic that this fuel source will play a role in advancing renewable energy generation overseas as an alternative to coal. The project entails establishing two processing facilities—one in Tuolumne County, and another in Lassen County on the Modoc Plateau in Northern California. Upon completion, the pellets will be transported via rail or truck to the Port of Stockton for international shipment to countries such as Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, where they will be used in power plants. However, GSNR’s proposed wood pellet project has generated substantial controversy and apprehension, with many questioning the project’s true intentions. And the project could have direct impacts on the Truckee/Tahoe region. 
The state’s forests are much too dense and wildly overgrown. …Rural county officials see an additional reason to cut trees and clear forests: bringing back jobs lost in the long decline of logging. The accumulated biomass can be ground into pellets and sold for fuel in Japan and Europe. …Advocates contend the industry will be climate friendly and carbon neutral, but opponents say pellet plants already operating in the southeastern United States are neither. The U.S., they say, is paying the price of green energy in Europe. …Enviva claims it uses only treetops and branches in its plants, the kind of material the California plants also plan to use. But a whistleblower called that a joke. “We use 100% whole trees,” he said. The rural representatives in California claim their operation will be nothing like Enviva’s. “Our mission is to increase forest health,” said Blacklock.
Are you frightened by climate change? …In the words of science writer and author David Wallace-Wells, “No matter how well informed you are, you are surely not alarmed enough.” …If the fracturing of our once stable climate doesn’t terrify you, then you don’t fully understand it. The reality is that, as far as we know, and in the natural course of events, our world has never — in its entire history — heated up as rapidly as it is doing now. Nor have greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere ever seen such a precipitous hike. …What’s happening to our world scares the hell out of me, but if I shout the brutal, unvarnished truth from the rooftops, will this really galvanize you and others into fighting for the planet and your children’s futures? Or will it leave you frozen like a rabbit in headlights, convinced that all is lost? It is an absolutely critical question.
New independent analysis by Public First, ‘Mind the gap: Exploring Britain’s energy crunch’, commissioned by Drax Group (Drax), reveals that the UK will hit an energy security “crunch point” in 2028. Public First’s research finds that in 2028 a perfect storm of an increase in demand, the retirement of existing assets, and delays to the delivery of Hinkley Point C will culminate in demand exceeding secure dispatchable and baseload capacity by 7.5GW at peak times. This shortfall is more than three times the secure de-rated power that Sizewell C will be capable of providing to the system when completed – 2.5GW – and nearly double the gap in 2022 (4GW). Uncertainty for biomass generators, which contribute over 3GW of secure dispatchable power, risks compounding the shortfall by nearly 50%.
Council and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional political agreement today on a regulation to establish the first EU-level certification framework for for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products . The voluntary framework is intended to facilitate and speed up the deployment of high-quality carbon removal and soil emission reduction activities in the EU. Once entered into force, the regulation will be the first step towards… the EU’s ambitious goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The deal reached today is provisional, pending formal adoption by both institutions. The regulation will cover carbon removal including temporary carbon storage in long-lasting products (such as wood-based construction products) of a duration of at least 35 years and that can be monitored on-site during the entire monitoring period.
Germany wants to curb the use of unsustainable crops for biomass and force producers to better utilize animal dung and organic waste, a move which has prompted warnings from the industry. While only about a third of animal manure is currently utilized for biogas production, the government wants two thirds to be used by 2030, a draft strategy paper says. It also wants organic waste and cover crops to play a greater role in bioenergy, while plant operators typically prefer to use energy crops such as corn or wood to produce heat, power or biofuels. Biomass, which is the main renewable energy source in both Germany and the European Union, has been considered a controversial alternative to conventional fossil fuels. While proponents argue that burning trees and plants — which absorb carbon dioxide — results in lower net emissions, critics worry about deforestation, land use and biological diversity.