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.
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.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his new cabinet on Tuesday with a speech at Rideau Hall outlining his priorities — and like the speech, which did not mention climate change, the cabinet itself signals a potential shift in a new direction. Carney’s cabinet signals a “potential downgrading” of climate change and environment, says Mark Winfield, a professor of environmental governance at York University. …Carney appointed longtime business executive Tim Hodgson to serve as energy and natural resources minister and Toronto—Danforth MP Julie Dabrusin to serve as minister of environment and climate change. Dabrusin steps into the post held under Trudeau by Steven Guilbeault, who drew the ire of the energy industry and its political allies. Immediately following Dabrusin’s appointment, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith attacked her, too. Smith promptly took to social media after the swearing-in ceremony on May 13 to call Dabrusin “another anti-oil and gas Environment Minister.” [A subscription is required to access this full story]
MONTREAL – Academics at McGill University in Montreal are providing the U.S. scientific community a platform to protect climate research under attack. Six months ago, researchers at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management launched the Sustainability Academic Network — SUSANHub.com — a database that centralizes climate research and data. “We initially created this platform to connect researchers and professionals in sustainable development and climate change,” said Juan Serpa, a professor at the Desautels Faculty of Management, describing the platform as a kind of “LinkedIn” for the field. But at a time when the administration of United States President Donald Trump is firing climate researchers, banning certain words from scientific articles, cutting funding for environmental research, threatening to withdraw financial support from universities, and deleting scientific reports from government websites, the McGill platform has taken on a different significance. “The goal is to protect scientific data against threats from the U.S. government,” Serpa said.
A Canadian carbon credit firm is seeking more than US$40 million in damages in a lawsuit against its former CEO and several ex-directors and associates over alleged unjust enrichment, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. A statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court by Carbon Streaming Corporation describes diverted six-figure advisory fees, as well as lavish trips and retreats without a business purpose, over the span of multiple years. Toronto-based Carbon Streaming provides capital to carbon capture projects around the world via streaming or royalty agreements for carbon credits, which they sell to buyers looking to offset emissions, or other investors. …Last week, Carbon Streaming filed a lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against founder, former CEO and company director Justin Cochrane, as well as several other past executives, directors, consultants, and affiliated entities.
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.
Boeing Canada says it’s investing millions of dollars into business ventures in B.C. and Quebec with the eventual goal of producing close to 200 million litres of sustainable jet fuel every year. The announcement, made Wednesday, includes nearly $17.5 million split between two projects looking to turn wood waste and carbon captured from industrial smokestacks into sustainable aviation fuel. The fuel, known in industry as SAF, has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80 per cent over its lifecycle and “offers the fastest route to decarbonization in the aviation sector,” according to Boeing. Boeing’s latest investment will direct $10 million to Project Avance, a joint venture between Bioenergie AECN and Alder Renewables in Port Cartier, Que. The project aims to convert wood residue from sawmills into low-carbon bio-crude that can later be converted into almost 38 million litres of unblended jet fuel every year.
The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has today announced the publication of two Interim Regional Risk Assessments (RRAs), covering British Columbia and Alberta Forests, Canada (available 
The 
The BC government says it will only meet half of its 2030 target to lower greenhouse gas emissions. In an annual 
VANCOUVER, BC — Svante Technologies, a leader in carbon capture and removal technology, announced that its joint carbon capture and storage project with Mercer International has advanced to the Front-end Engineering and Design Phase 2 (FEL-2). Also known as Pre-FEED, this phase involves engineering, cost estimation, and risk analysis to evaluate the project’s commercial viability. …The carbon capture project targets biogenic CO2 emissions from Mercer’s Peace River pulp mill, where the biomass is sourced from sustainably managed forests. Advancing to the Pre-FEED stage will support further development of the integrated design, cost estimates, and risk assessments—key steps toward a final investment decision and potential implementation. …Utilizing a Novel Carbon Capture Technology for Commercial Deployment, Svante’s second-generation capture technology maximizes low-grade waste heat from pulp mills, reducing energy consumption and increasing cost-effectiveness.
A love of the outdoors and a deep desire to make a meaningful impact on communities affected by climate change keeps Greg Verkaik going back to Western Canada. The PhD student studies peatlands and their role in wildfires. Climate change isn’t an abstract concept in his research, it’s something he’s been seeing and experiencing in the landscapes he’s visited since 2018 as part of this work. The 2025 wildfire season is already shaping up to be another intense year for Canada. Early signs point to another active and dangerous season, particularly in Western Canada. As peatlands dry and fire seasons lengthen, the risk of deep-burning, smouldering fires – the kind that can persist underground and reignite months later, continues to grow. This only strengthens Verkaik’s commitment to his research, which aims to better understand how peatlands influence wildfire behaviour and how they might be managed to reduce risk.
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. 
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 
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.
[Airplanes produce] a lot of emissions. In fact, the airline industry produces more greenhouse gases than many major countries. Most airlines … are pushing for cleaner fuels—and offering passengers the chance to help them offset a flight’s carbon emissions. Book a trip with a big carrier and you might be asked if you want to invest in forest preservation, saving enough trees to soak up your jet-setting’s environmental emissions. But is that really helping the planet or is it just a way for corporations to look better? A new study co-led by researchers at Boston University and the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force has found some of these efforts, known as forest carbon credit schemes, might not be doing much good. After examining the standards-governing programs … researchers recommend a series of new guidelines and improvements to “the carbon market system that would promote reliably high-quality forest carbon credits.”
The US agriculture secretary has said the UK could take more US wood pellets as biomass amid ongoing trade talks. Brooke Rollins told reporters the US is ‘100% confident’ that the country’s wood chips adhere to UK sustainability requirements. Rollins met with UK energy secretary Ed Miliband and energy minister Michael Shanks on 13 May. Her visit to London saw her promoting agricultural produce – including US wood pellets. This is despite ongoing questions surrounding the actual sustainability of the biomass sector. In particular, Drax, which is subsidised by the UK taxpayer, has come under scrutiny on several occasions.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will no longer track the cost of climate change-fueled weather disasters, including floods, heat waves, wildfires and more. It is the latest example of changes to the agency and the Trump administration limiting federal government resources on climate change. NOAA falls under the US Department of Commerce and is tasked with daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring. It is also parent to the National Weather Service. The agency said its National Centers for Environmental Information would no longer update its Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database beyond 2024. For decades, it has tracked hundreds of major events across the country, including destructive hurricanes, hail storms, droughts and freezes that have totaled trillions of dollars in damage. The database uniquely pulls information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s assistance data, insurance organizations, state agencies and more to estimate overall losses from individual disasters. 
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.
Earlier this week, Clean Air Task Force (CATF), alongside a team of leading U.S. forest carbon scientists, published a deep dive into the rules that govern a wide range of forest carbon credit certifications relevant to North America. The assessment examines rules of the road for quantifying carbon credits and identifies what works well, where there are weaknesses, and opportunities for improvements to ensure that forest carbon credits achieve their promised climate benefits… CATF’s assessment scored some elements of California’s current forest protocol that lays out the requirements for carbon credit certification as robust, such as the 100-year monitoring period for stored carbon in forests, and others as weak, like the risk assessment procedure. While high-quality credits are possible under the current protocol, the bar needs to be raised to guarantee that credits are delivering on their promise.
FALLON, Nev. – A proposed wood pellet processing plant in Churchill County is facing significant opposition from nearby residents who say it’s a great project in the wrong place. The facility, which would operate 24/7, is being proposed on McLean Road in Fallon. The man behind the proposal, Alex Pedan, is seeking a special use permit to open the plant, but neighbors are raising red flags over concerns about noise, dust, and declining property values. Amber Sanchez lives near the site and says she was notified about the proposal on April 29. She’s concerned that not everyone in her neighborhood received the same letter. …During Wednesday night’s Churchill County Planning Commission meeting, residents filled the room to speak out against the plan. Some said they supported the idea of a wood pellet business — just not in a residential or agricultural area. …In response to community concerns, Pedan claimed the plant’s equipment would be housed indoors, within a sound-insulated structure.
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 
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.
A law signed by Gov. Janet Mills last week 
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.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — 
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.
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 
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.
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.
Mineral water producer Gerolsteiner Brunnen has broken ground on a new biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant at its site in the Vulkaneifel region, Germany, in partnership with energy provider E.ON. The plant is set to significantly reduce the company’s reliance on fossil fuels and further its long-standing commitment to climate protection. Once operational in early 2027, the plant will supply up to 95% of Gerolsteiner’s heat demand and around 20% of its electricity needs. It will run on regionally sourced biomass, including wood chips from damaged or diseased wood, forest residues, and green waste, that would otherwise go unused in traditional wood processing industries… The project is expected to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by over 7,000 tonnes annually.
When I hear discussions about creating markets to “save nature,” a part of me is hopeful, but a bigger part is deeply cautious. Looking at how these market ideas have played out, like carbon markets, gives me pause. Forests, wetlands, and the natural world are not simple spreadsheets; treating them as such can lead us down a perilous path… Carbon, as CO2, is a global pollutant. A tonne reduced in one place has, theoretically, the same atmospheric impact as a tonne reduced elsewhere.This (imperfect) fungibility is what would allow a global carbon market to function. Biodiversity, however, is the epitome of diversity, local and unique. The specific mix of species, the genetic diversity and the intricate ecological relationships that define a patch of old-growth rainforest in the Amazon are utterly different from those in a Scottish pine forest or an Indonesian mangrove. You cannot swap one for the other and claim equivalence.
The Amazon rainforest may be able to survive long-term drought caused by climate change, but adjusting to a drier, warmer world would exact a heavy toll, according to new research in which Cardiff University played a role. The findings show adapting to the effects of climate change could see some parts of the Amazon rainforest lose many of its largest trees, releasing carbon stored in them to the air, and reducing the rainforest’s carbon sink capacity. Parts of the Amazon are expected to become drier and warmer as the climate changes, but long-term effects on the region’s rainforests – which span more than 2 million square miles – are poorly understood. Previous research has raised concerns that a combination of severe warming and drying, together with deforestation, could lead to lush rainforest degrading to a sparser forest or even savanna.
Representing 27% of all forests worldwide, boreal forests are the planet’s terrestrial “second lung” after tropical forests. Encircling the North Pole, they span North America, Europe, and Asia, playing a vital role in global carbon sequestration and storage, biodiversity, and supporting societies and economies. Despite their importance, boreal forests do not receive the same visibility and attention among policymakers and the public as their tropical forest counterparts. A new study published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), presented today at the United Nations Forum on Forests in New York, highlights the urgent need to increase the understanding of this global “treasure trove” and to safeguard its important contributions… Boreal forests, like other forest biomes, are important to global goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8, 12, 13 and 15, the six Global Forest Goals and the Targets of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2030.
The United Nations Forum on Forests commenced its twentieth session today, as speakers spotlighted the connection between healthy forests and a sustainable future, the increasing threats to this important global resource and the subsequent need to invest in its protection despite a shrinking fiscal space. The Forum will hold its twentieth session from 5 to 9 May in New York. Established in 2000 by the Economic and Social Council, the Forum has universal membership and is tasked with reviewing progress in the implementation of sustainable forest management. This session — a technical one — will focus on Global Forest Goals 1 (reversing forest loss), 3 (protecting forests and using sustainable forest products) and 5 (promoting inclusive forest governance). “This Forum is unique,” observed Ismail Belen (Türkiye), Chair of the Forum’s twentieth session — noting that “it is the only global intergovernmental platform with universal membership that focuses on all forest-related issues”.
The Sustainable Biomass Program (SPB) published its Annual Review 2024, capturing a year of growth, strategic progress, and continued delivery as the biomass certification scheme of choice. With 2024 marking the second year of its current three-year strategy, SBP has consolidated its position in a rapidly evolving sustainability landscape, while laying firm foundations for the years ahead. “2024 outcomes reflect a busy and productive year for SBP. We saw significant growth in certified biomass volumes and certificate holder numbers, but equally important we took proactive steps to define our contribution to global challenges, from carbon and climate to regulatory compliance and sustainability governance. With growth comes an increased responsibility to ensure that assurance and oversight of compliance are rigorously maintained,”stated Carsten Huljus, CEO of SBP.
A UK government spending watchdog has questioned the value of the multibillion pound subsidies granted to the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire – and said plans to hand over billions more may not represent value for money. The government has provided about £22bn of public money to businesses and households that burn biomass pellets as fuel over the past three years, including £6.5bn for the owner of the Drax plant. The power plant, which generates about 5% of the UK’s electricity, is expected receive more than £10bn in renewable energy subsidies between 2015 and the end of 2026 – despite ongoing concerns that wood pellets are not always sustainably sourced. The Public Accounts Committee has said that biomass generators have been left to “mark their own homework” when it comes to proving that their fuel met the sustainability standards set by the subsidy scheme.
The assessment singled out Brazil and Australia, and warned a lack of rules around accounting for forests and other land-based carbon sinks meant countries could “game the system” when reporting their national greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists are still unclear about how carbon sinks might behave as the planet warms in future, and exactly how much heat-trapping carbon dioxide they might soak up from the atmosphere. But that has not stopped countries from making their own assumptions and using those numbers in their national climate plans, which are due to be finalised to 2035 before the next UN climate talks in Brazil in November. Climate Analytics, a policy institute that independently assesses these plans, said overly optimistic assumptions about how much CO2 forests might draw down was “masking the scale and pace of the fossil fuel emissions cuts needed”.
After almost a decade of negotiations, the agreements on carbon markets achieved at Cop29 have been broadly seen as a great success. As well as providing the basis for a global trading system, it may also unlock another source of green finance for global south countries. In Baku, important decisions on article 6 of the Paris Agreement were made and adopted. Countries have agreed on the ground framework to implement a global, centrally governed carbon market, widely seen as the successor to the clean development mechanism developed under the Kyoto protocol. There were also agreements on helping to refine the mechanisms allowing carbon trading between countries through voluntary cooperation… Given the uncertainty, carbon markets may provide an alternative vehicle to channel the funding necessary for climate adaptation and mitigation.
Like giant bones planted in the earth, clusters of tree trunks, stripped clean of bark, are appearing along the Chesapeake Bay on the United States’ mid-Atlantic coast. They are ghost forests: the haunting remains of what were once stands of cedar and pine. Since the late 19th century, an ever-widening swath of these trees have died along the shore. And they won’t be growing back. These arboreal graveyards are showing up in places where the land slopes gently into the ocean and where salty water increasingly encroaches. Along the United States’ east coast, in pockets of the west coast and elsewhere, saltier soils have killed hundreds of thousands of acres of trees, leaving behind woody skeletons typically surrounded by marsh.