Category Archives: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

As the new Biomass satellite settles into life in orbit following its launch on April 29, ESA has released its most extensive satellite-based maps of above-ground forest carbon to date. Spanning nearly two decades, the dataset offers the clearest global picture yet of how forest carbon stocks have changed over time. Developed through ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, this new long-term record integrates data from multiple satellite missions—and will soon be further enhanced by data from the Biomass mission itself. It tracks the carbon-rich woody parts of vegetation, mainly trunks and branches, across the globe for different years between 2007 and 2022, at resolutions ranging from 100 m to 50 km. Importantly, it is tailored to support climate and carbon modeling, forest management, and national greenhouse-gas reporting activities as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement.

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.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch its newest space satellite later this month, called Biomass. Its five-year mission is to provide detailed 3D maps of the world’s most dense and remote tropical forests. Using instruments on board, it will be able to measure the woody trunks, branches and stems of the trees. The hope is that the data it collects will help experts better understand the state of our forests and how they are changing. Biomass is the first space satellite to carry a long wavelength radar, called P-band. This special radar means that it can scan deep through the forest canopy and collect information on different parts of the forest, such as tree trunks, branches and stems, where trees store most of their carbon… If all goes well, it is due to take off on 29 April.

• Biomass fully loaded: European Space Agency press release

A new study led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden has uncovered a surprising layer of diversity in tropical forests. Not only are the forests populated by a dizzying number of tree species, but each of those species takes a different approach to chemistry, increasing the array of natural compounds that provide important functions for the plants — and potentially for humans. The research helped clarify the ecological and evolutionary forces that make tropical forests such hotbeds of biodiversity. While the team wasn’t specifically looking for compounds that could be useful for humans, their findings underscore the value of tropical forests as natural factories of plant chemicals that could have important uses in medicine and other fields, said Jonathan Myers, a professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at WashU. “Tropical plants produce a huge diversity of chemicals that have practical implications for human health.”

Last week, Pindstrup – a global supplier of growing media for the horticultural industry – opened a wood fiber plant at its factory in Kongerslev, Denmark. This €4 million investment marks a significant step in Pindstrup’s transition towards a more sustainable future. The company is actively working to reduce the CO₂ footprint of its growing media by replacing peat with renewable and circular raw materials. CEO René Gjerding says, “For decades, Pindstrup has incorporated wood fiber into its growing media and has been producing it at our factories in Northern Ireland and Latvia. We are pleased to now bring wood fiber production to our factory in Denmark, using locally sourced, PEFC-certified wood chips. The plant runs on renewable energy, further reducing our CO₂ footprint.”

The island of New Guinea is cloaked in the world’s third-largest rainforest belt, helping the planet breathe by sucking in carbon dioxide gas and turning it into oxygen. Foreign companies have in recent years snapped up tracts of forest in an attempt to sell carbon credits, pledging to protect trees that would otherwise fall prey to logging or land clearing. But a string of mismanagement scandals forced Papua New Guinea to temporarily shut down this “voluntary” carbon market in March 2022. Environment Minister Simo Kilepa told AFP that, with new safeguards now in place, this three-year moratorium would “be lifted immediately”. “Papua New Guinea is uplifting the moratorium on voluntary carbon markets,” Kilepa said.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released its report, Alt-F Reset: Examining the drivers of forestry in New Zealand, looking at the economic and environmental impacts of forestry. New Zealand Forest Owners Association chief executive Dr Elizabeth Heeg says the report raises important considerations for land use adaptation in a changing climate but that some of its recommendations would be counter intuitive to progressing climate action. “Climate action is urgently needed and as it stands, there is a question mark over New Zealand meeting its 2050 emissions targets,” Elizabeth says. “Forestry remains at the centre of any future success so it makes no sense to limit the tools we do have available. “Pulling back from the ETS without a tangible, alternative approach is risky at best.” Forest owners are also concerned about the pressure that removal of forestry offsets from the ETS would place on operators, particularly farmers and woodlot owners.

Sometime next month, the Bolivian government and a company you probably haven’t heard of are poised to offer what could be the largest single sale of carbon credits in history. The deal will be unusual not only for its size—$1.2 billion, organizers said—but also because it will be backed by a national government and packaged under new rules developed as part of the Paris Agreement. Depending on who you ask, the sale could mark a new frontier in global climate finance, the latest offering in a long and dubious line of carbon credits or, potentially, a giant escalation in corporate greenwashing… “I don’t think a lot of people even in the climate world quite appreciate how much volume and activity may be emerging quickly from this new area,” said Danny Cullenward, an economist and lawyer focused on the scientific integrity of climate policy.

Global demand for wood as a building material is expected to quadruple by 2050. Demand is being driven in part by the rising popularity of mass timber for its aesthetics and eco friendliness. One of the perceived advantages of choosing mass timber panels and components for construction and renovation is their lower production-related greenhouse gas emissions vis-a-vis conventional wood products and other building materials like steel or concrete. But the notion that producing mass timber is carbon neutral—one of its key selling points for developers and AEC firms looking to reduce a project’s carbon footprint—has come under greater scrutiny, and has led one firm, Corgan, to develop a tool that calculates CO2 from mass timber, including the harvesting and transporting processes that, according to a recent paper published by Nature, could add between 3.5 billion and 4.2 billion metric tons of GHG emissions annually to the atmosphere by 2050, the equivalent of roughly 10% of recent CO2 emissions.

As the EU pushes to meet its climate neutrality targets by 2050, the concept of ‘renewable carbon’ is rising fast in both policy and industry circles. Unlike fossil carbon, which is extracted from underground and released into the atmosphere during production and consumption, renewable carbon comes from above-ground sources, biomass, recycled materials, and captured CO2. In short, it’s carbon that is already part of the ongoing carbon cycle. “Renewable carbon is not just about replacing fossil-based materials: it’s about rethinking how we design, use, and reuse resources across industries,” said Michael Carus, managing director of the Germany-based Nova Institute during a recent event hosted by EURACTIV and Metsä Group. This kind of thinking is gaining traction among companies looking to green their supply chains. Wood-based products, for instance, have a unique potential to store carbon for long periods when used in construction or durable goods, making them a crucial component of a low-carbon, circular economy.

Forests play a crucial role in sustaining life on Earth, covering 31% of the planet’s land and supporting 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. They provide essential raw materials for everyday products and protect soil, water and climate systems. However, these vital ecosystems face severe threats from the global climate and biodiversity crises. Sustainable forest stewardship offers a beacon of hope in addressing these challenges. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is leading the charge in sustainable forestry, offering a credible solution trusted by NGOs, consumers and businesses worldwide. With more than 150 million hectares of certified forests, FSC is at the forefront of promoting healthy and resilient forests for all. The nonprofit organization provides a framework for responsible forest management, balancing environmental, social and economic perspectives. FSC’s standards and certification process help forest managers, smallholders and governments ensure thriving forest ecosystems while safeguarding the livelihoods of forest communities.

A new study is bringing hard data to understand how butterfly numbers have declined steeply in recent years, due to the combination of habitat loss, climate change, and pesticide exposure. A group of scientists is hoping to fix at least one of these problems for one species, by moving an entire forest in Mexico. The sacred fir trees, where monarch butterflies spend their winters, are struggling under climate change. Recently a team of researchers planted a thousand sacred fir trees at a new location at higher elevations to kickstart a new, future-proof forest for the butterflies to overwinter. Quirks producer Amanda Buckiewicz spoke to Cuauhtémoc Saénz Romero, a forest geneticist at the University of Michoacán in Mexico, and Greg O’Neill, a climate change adaptation scientist with the BC Provincial Government in the Ministry of Forests.

[This is an episode segment of Quirks and Quarks, on CBC Listen]

In the past, intact forests absorbed 7.8 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually – about a fifth of all human emissions – but their carbon storage is increasingly at risk from climate change and human activities such as deforestation. A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that failing to account for the potentially decreasing ability of forests to absorb CO₂ could make reaching the Paris agreement targets significantly harder, if not impossible, and much more costly. “Right now, our climate strategies bet on forests not only remaining intact, but even expanding,” explains Michael Windisch, the study’s lead author and PIK guest scientist. “However, with escalating wildfires like in California, and continued deforestation in the Amazon, that’s a gamble. Climate change itself puts forests’ immense carbon stores at risk.” … “We must act immediately to safeguard the carbon stored in forests,” Windisch emphasises. 

Dutch forest campaigners are claiming a significant victory over one of the Netherlands’ top energy providers, Vattenfall, after the company decided in late February to cancel plans to build the nation’s largest wood pellet burning plant for energy. “This is enormous,” said Fenna Swart, leader of the Clean Air Committee, a Dutch forest advocacy group that has aggressively opposed Vattenfall’s plans since 2019 in the court of law and public opinion. “This is a great victory for our forests and biodiversity. After six years, [we] have succeeded in stopping this mega biomass power plant by the multinational Vattenfall.” The Sweden-based company, the Netherlands’ third-largest energy producer, first sought a permit in 2018 to build the 120-megawatt power plant using only forest biomass to generate energy. The facility, to be built just outside Amsterdam, would have powered up to 24,000 homes in exchange for 395 million euros ($424.8 million) in subsidies pledged by the Dutch government.

The Second Report on the State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources, published on Wednesday, reveal concerning trends in global plant and forest diversity. For example, more than 40 percent of all taxa surveyed are no longer present in at least one of the areas where they were previously cultivated or occurred naturally, while about one-third of tree species are threatened… Globally, deforestation, forest degradation, climate change, fires, pests, diseases, and invasive species are threatening many trees and other woody plant species and eroding their genetic diversity. The report found that common and widely distributed tree species retain much of their genetic diversity, while rare and threatened species have lost significant amounts. More than two-thirds of countries have national tree-seed programs, but many are experiencing shortages of seed and other reproductive materials. This poses challenges for establishing new forests and achieving the target of a three-percent increase in the global forest area by 2030.

Related content:

• The Guardian: Biodiversity loss in all species and every ecosystem linked to humans – report
• FAO: SilvaGRIS –  New Global Information System on Forest Genetic Resources launched

Maybe there should be a companion to Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare. This one could be about the spruce and the poplar. Fast-growing trees like poplars might seem likely to win the race to soak up carbon the fastest, making them ideal candidates for tree-planting campaigns aimed at helping to address climate change. But it turns out that slower sprouting trees, like the spruce, are frequently the growth champions. Outside of tropical rainforests or cozy, moist greenhouses favored by labs studying plants, trees that have long been considered “fast” aren’t so speedy after all, according to research published last week in Nature. The findings suggest that tree planters shouldn’t be seduced by the promises of certain trees that might not be best suited for harsh conditions. And it sheds light on a disconnect that has puzzled scientists for years.

BENGALURU/JAKARTA – Udit Bhatia, a civil and computer science engineer in one of India’s top technical institutes is growing anxious as political events put his work in jeopardy. The Trump administration’s ongoing budget cuts in US federal agencies are threatening to disrupt worldwide weather and ocean measurements that are vital to global governments and agencies in forecasting and early warnings, and disaster resilience research done by the likes of Dr Bhatia. …Critical datasets that his laboratory relies on are generated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), America’s primary oceanic science and meteorological body. The NOAA’s National Centres for Environmental Information monitor and archive data on temperature, precipitation, wind speeds and humidity levels 130+ observing platforms across the globe, including those in the Indian Ocean that are relevant for Dr Bhatia. …it is a reminder that we need redundancies in global and regional data gathering “to protect the overall prediction enterprise from political vagaries.

The European Union is on track to miss its 2030 carbon sequestration targets for forests. A new report says forest-based carbon removal needs clearer policies and more funding. Ongoing deforestation, land degradation, and unsustainable land-use practices highlight the need for a policy shift. Data from the latest European Environment Agency (EEA) monitoring report, details 28 key indicators assessing targets across sectors, including climate change, biodiversity, pollution reduction, and sustainable resource use. Biodiversity and ecosystem conservation goals are closely tied to forest health. The EU is not on track to meet its targets for increasing forest connectivity or reversing the decline in common bird populations, which reflects broader ecosystem degradation. Despite existing legislation, pressures from agriculture, urban expansion, and resource extraction continue to impact forest ecosystems.

A report by The Times has outlined how Drax attempted to ‘silence’ an employee, after she raised concerns that it had misled British energy regulator Ofgem about its true sustainability credentials. In a London-held tribunal, Rowaa Ahmar, who was head of Drax’s public affairs and policy team, claimed she was unfairly dismissed, months after expressing concerns to executives about the claims of utilising sustainable wood. Rowaa Ahmar said the biomass giant tried to ‘deliberately conceal’ the truth about its operations. A 2022 BBC documentary alleged the company’s felling of old-growth forests in Canada. …In legal submissions, Ahmar said that, in the weeks after the BBC documentary’s broadcast, she received information that increasingly showed Drax had been ‘misleading the public, government and its regulator’. According to Ahmar, she began making whistlelowing complaints, including a letter to Drax chief executive Will Gardiner.

Sweden might fail to meet its and the EU’s carbon neutrality targets after recent environmental policy shifts, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned in a report published Wednesday. Long considered a champion in environmental protection and the fight against climate change, the Scandinavian country has set a goal of net zero emissions by 2045, five years ahead of the European Union’s target. But Sweden might not be able meet either of those goals, according to a review conducted by the OECD, a 38-member group of mostly developed nations. “Over the last decade, the country has cut its greenhouse gas emissions faster than the EU average,” the report said. “However, recent policy shifts, particularly in the transport sector, have put into question Sweden’s ability to meet EU and domestic climate targets.” …In January, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) criticised Sweden for not adequately protecting primary and old-growth forests from logging.

Denmark has long been praised for its transition to renewable energy, with renewable energy use rising from 6% in 1990 to 42.8% in 2022. However, behind this achievement lies an overdependence on woody biomass, which now accounts for up to 68% of its total renewable energy use. This growth has been sustained through direct and indirect subsidies, often exceeding those allocated to wind and solar energy. Denmark’s dependence on woody biomass is largely fuelled by imports from Estonia and Latvia. The country ranks among the largest, if not the largest, importer of woody biomass from the Baltic region, with 52% of its wood chips and pellets coming from these two nations. …Intensive logging is also devastating Estonian and Latvian bird populations. 

LONDON, March 12 – British energy regulator Ofgem said on Wednesday that it had not found evidence of a breach of sustainability obligations by power company Drax, in the watchdog’s review of reports prepared by auditor KPMG. Renewable power generators in Britain can receive renewable obligation (RO) certificates which can then be sold to energy suppliers who use them to sell renewable electricity products to customers. For biomass power plants to qualify for the certificates they must show at least 70% of their biomass fuel comes from sustainable sources. Green groups have long criticised the sustainability credentials of biomass power plants, which burn wood pellets to generate electricity. In 2023, regulator Ofgem opened an investigation into whether Drax was in breach of annual reporting requirements under the RO scheme. Ofgem said it reviewed over 3,000 documents and did not find evidence to support claims that sustainability obligations had been breached.