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.

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.

The battle to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius has been a rallying cry for climate action for nearly a decade. Now, with the planet almost certain to blow past the target, diplomats and campaigners at the COP29 summit have found themselves awkwardly clinging to a goal that no longer makes sense. The evidence has become harder and harder to ignore. This year will once again be the hottest on record as greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar and Earth will likely register an average reading of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. A study released this month using a new technique for measuring the rise in temperatures suggests the world was already 1.49C hotter at the end of 2023. …The mood in Baku has not been hopeful. Leaders from most major economies, consumed by domestic political struggles, failed to turn up. 

Related coverage in the NY Times: At COP29, Climate ‘Optimism Has Been Dampened’

BAKU, Azerbaijan — For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven’t lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — even as countries gather for another round of talks to curb warming, according to an analysis Thursday. At the United Nations climate talks, in Azerbaijan, nations are trying to set new targets to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task. But Earth remains on a path to be 2.7 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group of scientists and analysts who study government policies and translate that into projections of warming. If emissions are still rising and temperature projections are no longer dropping, people should wonder if the United Nations climate negotiations — known as COP — are doing any good, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare.

At COP29 in Azerbaijan, the stakes surrounding climate change have never been higher. Unprecedented forest fires are ravaging landscapes globally and drought-stricken parts of the Amazon face severe consequences. Sea-level rise, extreme heat and shifting weather patterns, all of which are direct consequences of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, compound the urgency. The United Nations Environment Programme’s latest Emissions Gap Report, highlights forests as one of the top three sectors that can deliver a third of the emissions reductions needed to meet the 2030 climate goals. Forests also play a critical role in providing sustainable livelihoods, regulating water cycles, reducing extreme weather and protecting human health. Destroying them risks crossing irreversible tipping points, from which we may not recover. Despite countless pledges … deforestation and degradation continue unabated. The time for talk has passed. Action is overdue and COP29 provides us with a timely opportunity to start the fightback with real purpose.

Is it possible to heat the planet to dangerous levels and then cool it down later? Economic models charting the world’s path to net zero emissions say yes. However, this bet on future large-scale carbon removal risks becoming a “get out of jail free” clause that allows high emissions to continue inflaming the climate crisis. A new study by leading scientists has criticised the overconfidence of policymakers and climate modellers – even the authors of the 2015 Paris agreement – for making this gamble. Their research highlights the pitfalls of assuming temperature thresholds can be safely exceeded and then reinstated. They’re right – and the problem runs even deeper. The challenge of implementing carbon removal at the scale required isn’t simply a matter of the technology being available and cost effective to deploy. Large-scale CO₂ removal depends on there being vast amounts of land to store carbon in trees and soil.

Carbon markets are one step closer to being part of global climate plans after a speedy COP decision. …Last night, this version of Article 6 was quickly adopted by countries in what COP29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev called an early “breakthrough” for the summit. …But the gavelling through of Article 6 was criticised by climate justice groups, who said carbon markets allow major polluters to keep emitting at the expense of people and the planet. “It sends a bad signal to open COP29 by legitimising carbon markets as a solution to climate change,” says Ilan Zugman, Latin America and Caribbean director of global climate campaign groups 350.org. “They are not – they will increase inequalities, infringe on human rights, and hinder real climate action.” Here’s a look at Article 6 and the carbon credits system it aims to implement – and why it’s so controversial. 

The language of world leaders speaking on Tuesday at the United Nations climate summit was diplomatic, but the underlying message was clear: There’s friction over the big issue at the conference. The negotiations are focused on delivering a new plan to provide developing countries with funds to adapt to a warming world. Ali Mohamed, Kenya’s climate envoy, said there was widespread agreement that cutting emissions and making countries more resilient to storms, floods and heat would require “trillions” of dollars. But just days into the talks, there were pointed comments from the leaders and squabbling in the negotiating rooms about the details, including exactly how much money should be raised, who should pay, where it should come from and how it should be spent. “How? Where? By whom?” said Mr. Mohamed, the lead negotiator for the African group of countries. “That’s the discussion that’s currently underway.” [A New York Times subscription is required to read this full story]

I wrote a feature article about the European Union Deforestation Regulation in Pellet Mill Magazine. The main point was that although well intended, there has been considerable controversy surrounding the EUDR. This has been largely stoked by a delay in the issuance of much-needed guidance regarding key provisions, as well as the short amount of time (and cost) to prepare, among other factors. Under the regulation, operators and traders who place certain commodities, including wood pellets, on the EU market or export from it must provide proof that the products haven’t originated from or contributed to deforestation. Operators must collect information, documents and data showing that the product is deforestation-free and legal, such as geolocation coordinates, quantity and country of production. The geolocation requirement is perhaps the biggest challenge for wood pellet exporters, considering the often complex supply chain when it comes to wood fiber feedstocks.

The UN climate summit in Azerbaijan kicked off Monday with many key leaders not even showing up. With low expectations set before it even began, the summit will see speeches on the need for a vast flow of money from rich countries to poorer ones. …The main problem is that wealthy countries — responsible for most emissions leading to climate change— want to cut emissions while poorer countries mainly want to eradicate poverty through growth. To get poorer countries to act against their own interest, the West started offering cash two decades ago. …The rich world didn’t deliver… and now developing countries now want more money. …Cleverly, campaigners and developing countries have rebranded the reason for these transfers by blaming weather damage costs. …Factually, this is an ill-considered claim because weather damages from hurricanes, floods, droughts, and other weather calamities have declined as a percentage of global GDP since 1990, both for rich and poor countries.

For the next two weeks, countries will gather on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss how to increase finance for climate crisis adaptation and mitigation. A global agreement on carbon markets will be high on the agenda as countries try to find ways of generating the trillions they need to decarbonise in order to limit heating to below 2C above preindustrial levels. …Carbon markets facilitate the trading of carbon credits. Each credit is equal to a tonne of carbon dioxide that has been reduced or removed from the atmosphere. They come from a wide range of sources: tree-planting schemes, forest protection and renewable energy projects are all common. …Where do they feature in the Paris Agreement? …Why are they so controversial? ….What are the risks if it goes badly?

The volume of growing trees in Swedish forests has doubled over the last hundred years. There is a continuous increase in living biomass, and the state of Swedish forests as a sink for carbon has never been more important. The same goes for the use of wood-based products in displacing emission-intensive materials like concrete, plastic, and steel. The significance of timber and wood in the green transition of Europe is immense. And the potential is even bigger. This might come as a surprise for many following the debate in recent years. We have constantly been alerted about a state of emergency, where alleged aggressive forestry practises supposedly have led to massive deforestation and forest degradation in Europe in general and in the Nordics in particular. But the claim that there has been an abrupt increase in harvesting is not correct.

Commenting on the National Energy System Operator’s (NESO) report Clean Power 2030 Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said: NESO couldn’t be any clearer, our power stations and plans to invest billions in renewable flexible electricity and carbon removals have a critical role to play in delivering the Government’s clean power target and wider climate goals. Drax Power Station’s secure biomass generation, and our intention to double the capacity of our pumped hydro site, Cruachan Power Station, are essential components of the pathways that NESO have set out. NESO says the deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is required to meet the Government’s carbon removal targets. We aim to install at least two units of BECCS at Drax Power Station, with the first operational in 2030 removing 4 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere per year.

Almost two decades ago, the atmosphere’s levels of methane — a dangerous greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term — started to climb. And climb. Methane concentrations, which had been stable for years, soared by 5 or 6 parts per billion every year from 2007 onward. Then, in 2020, the growth rate nearly doubled. Scientists were baffled — and concerned. Methane is the big question mark hanging over the world’s climate estimates; although it breaks down in the atmosphere much faster than fossil fuels, it is so powerful that higher than expected methane levels could shift the world toward much higher temperatures. But now, a study sheds light on what’s driving record methane emissions. The culprits, scientists believe, are microbes…

Drax will keep raising the levels of carbon emissions in the atmosphere until the 2050s despite using carbon capture technology, according to scientific research. The large power plant in North Yorkshire is a significant generator of electricity for the UK but has faced repeated criticism of its business model of burning wood pellets sourced from forests in the US and Canada. The new study found that the intensive forest management needed to source 7m tonnes of wood pellets to burn as fuel every year would erode the carbon stored in the ecosystems of these pine forests for at least 25 years… “The results demonstrate that the CCS technology itself is less important than the impact of wood pellet sourcing on forest carbon stocks and flows,” the study said.

Scientists say there has been an alarming lack of progress in saving nature as the UN biodiversity summit, COP 16, draws to a close. The scale of political ambition has not risen to the challenge of reducing the destruction of nature that costs the economy billions, said one leading expert… We are stuck in a “vicious cycle where economic woes reduce political focus on the environment” while the destruction of nature costs the economy billions, said Tom Oliver, professor of biodiversity at the University of Reading… Commenting on the talks, the renowned scientist, Dr Jane Goodall, said our future is “ultimately doomed” if we don’t address biodiversity loss.

The world’s biggest nature conservation conference closed in Colombia on Saturday with no agreement on a roadmap to ramp up funding for species protection. The 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was suspended by its president Susana Muhamad as negotiations ran almost 12 hours longer than planned and delegates started leaving to catch flights. The exodus left the summit without a quorum for decision-making, but CBD spokesman David Ainsworth told AFP it will resume at a later date to consider outstanding issues. The conference, the biggest meeting of its kind yet, with around 23,000 registered delegates, was tasked with assessing, and ramping up, progress toward an agreement reached in Canada two years ago…  that $200 billion per year be made available to protect biodiversity by 2030, including the transfer of $30 billion per year from rich to poor nations. …That turned out to be a bridge too far.

Related coverage:

• UK Guardian: Cop16 ends in disarray and indecision despite biodiversity breakthroughs
• NY Times: COP16 adopts a way to compensate for the use of genetic information but fail to make headway on broader funding

CALI, Colombia — Delegates on Saturday agreed at the UN conference on biodiversity to establish a subsidiary body that will include Indigenous peoples in future decisions on nature conservation, a development that builds on a growing movement to recognize the role of the descendants of some regions’ original inhabitants in protecting land and combating climate change. The delegates also agreed to oblige major corporations to share the financial benefits of research when using natural genetic resources. Indigenous delegations erupted into cheers and tears after the historic decision to create the subidiary body was annouced. It recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples and local communities for the benefit of global and national biodiversity management, said Sushil Raj, Executive Director of the Rights and Communities Global Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society. Negotiators had struggled to find common ground on some key issues in the final week.

Scientists from the Rwanda Forestry Authority have discovered two types of trees that could produce clean electricity, providing power to isolated communities. Rwanda aims to achieve complete electricity access by 2030, yet rural regions still need more power availability. In response, scientists are investigating the possibility of producing electricity from biomass sourced from sustainably cultivated plants, evaluating the energy capacity of different tree species. Bonaventure Ntirugulirwa, a senior researcher spearheading the initiative, mentioned that biomass has mostly been overlooked, even though it has the potential to serve as a high-energy substitute for traditional fossil fuels. …After examining the biomass potential of various rapidly growing trees and shrubs, the researchers pinpointed Senna siamea and Gliricidia sepium as top contenders for electricity production. The dense wood and elevated calorific values of these trees ensure they burn effectively, offering a high-heat option compared to fossil fuels.