Increasing renewable energy in Europe should not entail cutting down and burning entire trees, more than 650 scientists warn in a letter sent on Tuesday to Europarliamentarians ahead of their vote in Strasbourg next week on extending the Renewable Energy Directive. Wood residue and waste… are already being used as biomass alternatives to fossil fuel, which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that would have been given off if they were simply allowed to decompose. On the other hand, cutting trees for bio-energy releases carbon that would otherwise have been locked in by forests. It also uses up wood that otherwise would have been used for other products. This would lead to the cutting of other trees, elsewhere, to replace them, the scientists warn. Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, former deputy chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is among the signatories.