Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Fonterra has announced plans to convert two of its coal boilers to wood pellets at its Clandeboye site in South Canterbury in 2025. The $64 million investment will cut the co-operative’s overall emissions by 9% with reductions totalling 155,000 tonnes of CO2e each year, the equivalent of removing more than 64,000 cars from New Zealand roads each year.   The project marks a significant milestone in Fonterra’s sustainability journey as it works towards a 50.4% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, from a 2018 baseline, Fonterra chief operating officer Anna Palairet said. “This conversion project at Clandeboye is another demonstration of our co-op’s commitment to sustainability and climate action and follows successful boiler conversions at our Te Awamutu, and Hautapu sites… Clandeboye has been in operation since 1904, and as one of Fonterra’s largest manufacturing sites employs over 1000 people.

Much has been written over the years about carbon capture and the role it can play in tackling climate change, what about carbon removal? Carbon removal is the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locking it away for decades, centuries, or even longer… Marta Krupinska, the co-founder and chief executive of carbon removal market maker, CUR8, said carbon removals are the “space race of the 21st century” in an interview. And while carbon removals were not high on the agenda at the recent COP29 talks in Baku, there was an agreement on Article 6.4 – also known as the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism – which she said will “lay the groundwork” for more success around carbon removal at future COPs.

YICHUN, China — Recently, the photovoltaic (PV) power plant at Longfei Wood Products Factory in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province of China, was successfully connected to the grid. This marks the completion of first HPBC 2.0 distributed PV power plant, now officially put into commercial operation. Yichun, known as “The Forest Capital of China,” boasts a forest coverage rate of 84.8% and a forestry area of 40,000 square kilometers, making it a key national base for the timber industry. The wood products factory relies heavily on power-intensive equipment, such as sawmills, planers, and cutting machines, creating significant electricity demand and operational cost pressures. The Longfei Wood Products Factory PV power plant has an installed capacity of 2.2 MW … and …generates an annual output of 3.2 million kWh, providing electricity for the factory while also yielding annual electricity sales revenue of 1.2 million RMB.

Changes in cloud cover may account for why global temperatures for the past two years have exceeded the predictions of climate models. 2023 and 2024 saw temperature records repeatedly smashed, with both years now showing average temperatures around 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level. Climate change plus an El Niño weather pattern are partly to blame, but neither factor fully explains the extraordinary warmth. Now, researchers believe the answer lies in a sharp drop in low-lying cloud cover in 2023. This change reduced Earth’s albedo – the planet’s ability to reflect solar radiation back into space – causing an increase in temperatures. Earth’s albedo has been declining since the 1970s, largely due to the melting of polar ice caps, which help to bounce sunlight back into space. But analysis of satellite data by Helge Goessling at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and his colleagues revealed that 2023’s planetary albedo hit a record low.

The United Nations’ market for carbon trading will soon be open for business. Approved at the U.N. climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, last month, it will for the first time give the U.N.’s seal of approval to large-scale trading of carbon credits between nations. …At the front of the queue for selling credits is Indonesia, whose newly elected populist president Prabowo Subianto is reportedly planning to generate billions of dollars in revenues through bilateral deals to sell credits generated in his country’s vast rainforests. …Critics say the new trading market, which is expected to launch as soon as next year, is wide open to the bad carbon accounting and outright fraud that has bedeviled recent company-to-company “voluntary” trades and to double-counting of credits, making a mockery of efforts to slash global emissions.

Todd McClay

NEW ZEALAND — The government has announced sweeping changes to limit the amount of full farm to forestry conversions. Farming groups and rural communities have been raising concerns over the amount of productive farmland being converted into forestry for several years now. The new changes include… A moratorium on exotic forestry registrations for Land Use Classification (LUC) 1-5 actively farmed land. …Transitional measures for landowners currently in the process of afforestation who can demonstrate an intent to afforest prior to 4 December 2024. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Todd McClay said the changes delivered on a key election commitment to protect food production for farmers while providing ETS certainty for foresters. …Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said the changes provided much-needed certainty for participants in the ETS, ensuring that foresters, farmers, and investors could plan ahead with confidence.

Most of the world’s airlines are not doing enough to switch to sustainable jet fuel, according to a study, by Brussels-based advocacy group Transport and Environment, which also found too little investment by oil producers in the transition. The airline sector is calling for more production of the fuel, which can be made from materials such as wood chips and used cooking oil… As it stands, SAF makes up about 1% of aviation fuel use on the global market, which needs to increase for airlines to meet carbon emission reduction targets. The fuel can cost between two to five times more than regular jet fuel. A lack of investment by major oil players, who have the capital to build SAF processing facilities, is hampering the market’s growth, the study says.

Protesters descended on Westminster today to demand that the government stop using taxpayers’ money to bankroll the destruction of forests. More than 100 environmental activists from groups including Axe Drax, Fossil Free London and Greenpeace gathered outside the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, calling for an end to the vast subsidies granted to the Drax biomass power plant. The North Yorkshire plant is Britain’s largest carbon emitter, yet receives almost £1.5 million a day for burning biomass wood chips, a fuel source that Drax claims is “carbon neutral.”… A report by climate think tank Ember found that, in 2023, Drax produced more emissions than four of some of the most polluting power plants in Britain combined.

The top United Nations court will take up the largest case in its history, when it opens two weeks of hearings into what countries worldwide are legally required to do to combat climate change and help vulnerable nations fight its devastating impact. After years of lobbying by island nations who fear they could simply disappear under rising sea waters, the U.N. General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice last year for an opinion on “the obligations of States in respect of climate change.”… In the decade up to 2023, sea levels have risen by a global average of around 4.3 centimeters (1.7 inches), with parts of the Pacific rising higher still. The world has also warmed 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times because of the burning of fossil fuels.

Diplomats agreed earlier this month to new rules governing carbon credits. But while they were deliberating, the scientists who defined “net zero” in 2009, found something wrong with the math underlying those debates. “Achieving ‘net zero’ no longer means what we meant by it,” said Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science at University of Oxford, an author of a new paper in the journal Nature. Their new analysis skewers an assumption at the heart of how countries and companies track emissions — that a ton of CO2 is the same everywhere, whether it’s dispersed in the atmosphere, embedded in forest wood or pulled from the air and pumped deep underground. That fungibility is the foundation of carbon markets. It lets a ton of CO2 in a forest stand as a fair trade for a ton put in the atmosphere. That rule-of-thumb turns out to be a vast oversimplification that could render many well-meaning net-zero efforts meaningless.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A South Korean National Assembly member has called for a moratorium on wood pellet imports from Indonesia and an investigation into their environmental impacts after government data and satellite analysis linked the country’s biomass imports to deforestation in Indonesia. …Many coal-fired power plants can be easily modified to burn it alongside coal to make energy. …Experts including the IEA say it’s important for that demand to happen in a sustainable way, such as using waste and crop residue rather than converting forest land to grow bioenergy crops. In South Korea, bioenergy has grown to become the second-largest source of renewable energy and over 80% of its main raw material — energy-dense wood pellets — is dependent on imports. …The Korea Forest Service also told AP it had confirmed that Indonesia wood pellets were produced via legal tree-cut procedures in the country.

China has achieved a significant milestone in its battle against desertification by completing a 3,046 km sand-blocking green belt around the Taklimakan Desert. This achievement, finalised on Thursday morning, is part of the world’s largest afforestation initiative aimed at combating desertification across northwest, north, and northeast China. The green belt is a crucial component of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP), which was launched in 1978 and is scheduled for completion in 2050. The program aims to create a protective barrier of trees to halt the encroachment of deserts and improve ecological conditions. Over the decades, it has expanded forest coverage in affected regions, enhancing biodiversity and stabilising soil. This ambitious project reflects China’s plan to address environmental challenges and promoting sustainable development.

Encompassing some 2,700 square kilometers, Mau Forest is considered the most important water catchment in western Kenya, providing water to millions of people. But recent satellite data reveal that Mau is continuing to lose its water-giving forest cover. Most of Mau Forest is encompassed by a complex of around a dozen protected areas. However, despite formal protections, Mau lost around 25% of its tree cover due to human pressure between 1984 and 2020, according to forest monitoring groups. Satellite data from Global Forest Watch show forest loss dropped dramatically in 2021 and 2022 before shooting back up in 2023. Preliminary GFW data and imagery indicate the Mau Forest has been experiencing another major bout of deforestation in 2024.

The record low was followed by the symbolic end to coal-fired power generation in Britain with the closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, making the UK the first major economy to phase out coal power completely. Despite the UK leading the way in decarbonisation among the G7, the report shows that significant challenges remain in decarbonising the power sector, including the needs to phase out natural gas, invest in grid infrastructure, and address rising balancing costs. The findings have been released in the latest instalment of the quarterly Drax Electric Insights report. The publication is an independent report by academics from Imperial College London commissioned by Drax through Imperial Consultants.

Renewable energy leader Drax has launched a new three-part documentary, in partnership with The Yorkshire Post, to celebrate 50 years since Drax Power Station started generating electricity. The series, titled 50 years of Drax Power Station, reflects on the power station’s achievements alongside Drax’s vision for the future, exploring energy security, jobs and skills, and decarbonisation. Since Drax Power Station first began generating power in 1974, it has become a cornerstone of the UK’s energy infrastructure, now producing 9% of the nation’s renewable electricity – the largest single source of renewable power in the country. The documentary shows how Drax has kept the country’s lights on for half a century and continues to play a pivotal role in ensuring energy security for the UK. Watch episode 1 below or view the full series here.

Negotiations over hundreds of billions of dollars in new climate funding for developing countries had staggered into overtime at COP29 in Azerbaijan. Bitter recriminations had thrown a desperate, closed-door session on Saturday into what looked like a fatal impasse. …As talks stagnated, a group of envoys from some of the most vulnerable nations abruptly walked out. …Instead of triggering a total breakdown, however, the frustrated envoys came back to the table with new resolve to secure even a disappointing final agreement. …Poor countries had won a few key concessions from their wealthy counterparts, including a promise of at least $300 billion in yearly support for combatting climate change. …Even before the ink was dry on the COP29 agreement, there was skepticism about what was actually achieved. …Still, the plan formally adopted just before dawn Sunday represents the biggest-ever finance commitment produced by UN climate talks.

COP29 is over, with developing countries complaining that the $300bn a year in climate finance they will receive by 2035 is a “paltry sum”. …It is an improvement – on the current contribution of $100bn a year. However, the developing world, which had pushed for more, had many genuine issues with the final sum.

• There were complaints it simply was not enough and that it was a mixture of grants and loans.
• Shepherding 200 countries to an intricate deal on climate finance was always going to be a tough task.
• The quiet ascent of China – With the role of the US in doubt because of Trump, attention shifted to who might become the real climate leader.
• The need to ensure that a second Trump administration would not upend years of careful climate negotiations.
• One very noticeable trend at COP29 was the sometimes more aggressive stance taken by many environmental NGOs and campaigners.

The small island nations considered among the world’s most vulnerable to climate change say they are “deeply disappointed” with what they are calling a pitiful offer of cash in the latest proposal. “We cannot be expected to agree to a text which shows such contempt for our vulnerable people,” the Alliance of Small Island States group said. It includes countries like Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu in the Pacific, and Barbados and Bermuda in the Caribbean. All massively at risk from sea-level rise . They say the proposed $250bn a year by 2030 is a cap that will “severely stagnate climate action efforts”. They say it does not represent a real increase from the previous agreed cash goals of $100bn. …One important group here is the African Group, made up of 54 nations. Ali Mohamed, who chairs the group, says the $250bn (£199bn) figure floated in the text is “totally unacceptable and inadequate”.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish lawmakers on Monday agreed on a deal to plant 1 billion trees and convert 10% of farmland into forest and natural habitats over the next two decades in an effort to reduce fertilizer usage. The government called the agreement “the biggest change to the Danish landscape in over 100 years.” “The Danish nature will change in a way we have not seen since the wetlands were drained in 1864,” said Jeppe Bruus, head of Denmark’s Green Tripartite Ministry, created to implement a green deal reached in June among farmers, the industry, the labor unions and environmental groups. …Danish forests would grow on an additional 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres), and another 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres), which are currently cultivated on climate-damaging low-lying soils, must be converted to nature. Currently, 14.6% of land is covered by forests.

Japan’s Enshu Forest Energy started commercial operations at its 7.1MW biomass-fired power plant in Fukuroi city of Shizuoka prefecture on 16 November. The Enshu plant will burn 90,000t/yr of wood chips made from unused forest materials and gathered mainly from Shizuoka prefecture. It can generate around 53GWh/yr of electricity, which will be sold under the country’s feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme for 20 years. The plant was initially scheduled to come on line in December, but started two weeks earlier as Enshu Forest Energy, the operating company, completed its safety check and test runs earlier than expected.