Contents
1.Resources on (wood) biomass for heat and power
2.Scientific studies and reports focussing on (wood) biomass for heat and power
3. Scientific articles and reports on potential impacts of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)
4. NGO briefings, reports as well as NGO and scientists’ statements focussing on potential impacts of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)
5. Other informative websites about biomass energy:
6. NGO briefings and reports
7. Letters and Resolutions about biomass
1. RESOURCES ON (WOOD) BIOMASS FOR HEAT AND POWER
Please click here to find a searchable library of resources related to forest biomass, and here to find answers to Frequently Asked Questions, both put together and maintained by the Environmental Paper Network.
2. SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES AND REPORTS (See literature specific to Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, i.e. BECCS below)
The viability of co-firing biomass waste to mitigate coal plant emissions in Indonesia, Claire V. Squire et.al., Nature Communications & Environment, August 2024 [Article looks at how much deforstation would likely result from different levels of co-firing wood with coal.]
How ‘green’ electricity from wood harms the planet – and people, Nature Editorial, August 2024
Changes in planned and unplanned canopy openings are linked in Europe’s forests, Rupert Seidl and Cornelius Senf, Nature Communications, June 2024
What Economics Does – or Doesn’t – Tell Us About the Climate Consequences of Using Wood, Timothy Searchinger and Steve Berry, World Resources Institute, June 2024 – Report summarising scientific arguments why wood bioenergy is not carbon neutral
Burning forests: the wood pellet industry’s framing of sustainability and its shadow places, Etsuko Kinefuchi, Frontiers in Communication, May 2024
Emissions of wood pelletization and bioenergy use in the United States, Huy Tran et.al., Renewable Energy, December 2023: This study looks at air pollutant emissions from pellet production (including for export) and pellet consumption in the United States.
Tree canopy extent and height change in Europe, 2001–2021, quantified using Landsat data archive, Svetlana Turubanova et.al., Remote Sensing of Environment, September 2023; Quote: “The global demand for timber has increased since 2000 and it is expected to grow considerably in the next decades (FAO, 2022), in particular, driven by energy production (O’Brien and Bringezu, 2018). We suggest that European forests may experience an increase in the annual tree canopy removal area in the future caused by a concurrent increase in timber harvesting and natural disturbances.”
Forest carbon sinks under pressure, Fluxes, European Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, Integrated Carbon Observation System, Maria Luhtaniemi, November 2022 [Focus on EU]
Does wood bioenergy help or harm the climate?, John Sterman et.al., Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 2022
“Sustainable biomass”— A paper tiger when it comes to reducing carbon emissions, Mary Booth, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 2022
Surviving trees and deadwood moderate changes in soil fungal communities and associated functioning after natural forest disturbance and salvage logging, MathiasMayer et.al., Soil Biology and Biochemistry, March 2022
Greenhouse gas emissions from burning US-sourced woody biomass in the EU and UK – Increased use of forest biomass for energy and associated impacts on the climate , Research Paper, Chatham House, October 2021 [not a peer-reviewed study]
When Biomass Electricity Demand Prompts Thinnings in Southern US Pine Plantations: A Forest Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Case Study, Thomas Buchholz et.al., Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, May 2021: This study looks at greenhouses gas emissions associated with pellets produced in three pellet mills in the Southeastern USA which to Drax, burned in Drax power station in England. It finds that electricity from pellets produced from a combination of wood from pine plantations mixed with up to 50% sawmill residues will increase greenhouse gas emissions compared to the UK’s grid average in 2018-25 for a period of at least forty year
The living dead: acknowledging life after tree death to stop forest degradation, Simon Thorn et.al., Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, September 2020: The article explains the importance of increasing the amount of deadwood, including logging residues left in forests and highlights how their increased removal for biomass energy contributes to forest degradation.
Abrupt increase in harvested forest area over Europe after 2015, Guido Ceccherini et.al., Nature, July 2020 [Note: The article discusses the increase/intensification of logging across the EU since 2016.]
Greater stability of carbon capture in species-rich natural forests compared to species-poor plantations, Anan M Osuri et.al., Environmental Research Letters, February 2020 [Note: Highly relevant to biomass energy which commonly involves conversion of forests to tree planations]
Impact of deadwood decomposition on soil organic carbon sequestration in Estonian and Polish forests, Ewa Błońska et.al., Annals of Forest Science, October 2019 [Note: Very relevant to the question whether deadwood will emit all its carbon through decomposition, an argument often put forward for burning it.]
Climate Change Solutions: Sensible or Misguided?, The School of Public Policy Publications, University of Calgary, September 2019 – It concludes: “We argue that emissions from bioenergy should be treated in the same way as emissions from fossil fuels and this leaves many developed countries in a deep hole for reducing emissions. Based on the analysis in this study, we recommend that Canada pursue strategic policy directions and the design of unique and rational innovation programs.”
Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy, Michael Norton et.al., Global Change Biology Bioenergy, August 2019
Reconsidering bioenergy given the urgency of climate protection, John M. DeCicco and William H. Schlesinger, PNAS, September 2018
Europe’s renewable energy directive poised to harm global forests, Timothy Searchinger et.al., Nature Communications, September 2018
Revised European Union renewable-energy policies erode nature protection,
Klaus Josef Hennenberg et.al., Nature Ecology and Evolution, August 2018
Woody Biomass for Power and Heat: Demand and Supply in Selected EU Member States, Chatham House report by Duncan Brack June 2018 [not a peer-reviewed study]
Carbon impacts of biomass consumed in the EU Supplementary analysis and interpretation for the European Climate Foundation by Robert Matthews, Geoff Hogan and Ewan Mackie of Forest Research, the research agency of the UK Forestry Commission, May 2018
Siting of Wood Pellet Production Facilities in Environmental Justice Communities in the Southeastern United States, Stefan Koester and Sam Davis, Environmental Justice, April 2018
The effects of logging residue extraction for energy on ecosystem services and biodiversity: A synthesis, Thomas Ranius et.al., Journal of Environmental Management, March 2018
EU Bioenergy Policies Will Increase Carbon Dioxide Concentrations, Dr. William R. Moomaw, Global Development And Environment InstituteTufts University Climate Policy Brief 7, February 2018
Not carbon neutral: Assessing the net emissions impact of residues burned for bioenergy, Mary S Booth, Environmental Research Letters, February 2018
Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy, John D Sterman et.al. Environmental Research Letters, January 2018
Does the world have low-carbon bioenergy potential from the dedicated use of land?, Timothy D Searchinger et.al., Energy Policy, September 2017
Multi-functionality and sustainability in the European Union’s forests, European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), May 2017 (includes discussion about wood-based bioenergy)
The Impacts of the Demand for Woody Biomass for Power and Heat on Climate and Forests, Duncan Brack, Chatham House, February 2017 [Not a peer-reviewed study, but a science review by an independent think tank]
Biodiversity: Complementary canopies, Bernhard Schmid and Pascal A. Niklaus, Nature Ecology & Evolution, March 2017 AND associated article Spatial complementarity in tree crowns explains overyielding in species mixtures, Laura J. Williams et.al., Nature Ecology & Evolution, December 2016: These articles do not directly focus on bioenergy, however they are relevant to this debate because they explore a key reason why monoculture tree plantations sequester less carbon than biodiverse forests.
The carbon neutrality of electricity generation from woody biomass and coal, a critical comparative evaluation, Victor Nian, Applied Energy, October 2016
Time is of the essence when it comes to forest bioenergy, Michael Norton et.al., October 2016 (Letter to the Editor of GCB-Bioenergy)
Energy Sprawl Is the Largest Driver of Land Use Change in United States, Anne M. Trainor et.al., PLoS ONE, September 2016 (Contains figures for the land footprint of each energy source – with biomass far exceeding that of any other type of energy)
Bioenergy production and forest landscape change in the southeastern United States, Jennifer K. Costanza, Global Change Biology Bioenergy, August 2016 (Study based on modelling of potential landscape changes from wood pellet and wood-based biofuel production in North Carolina, highlighting the likely expansion of industrial tree plantations at the expense of biodiverse bottomland hardwoods.
Projected gains and losses of wildlife habitat from bioenergy-induced landscape change, Nathan M. Tarr et al., Global Change Biology Bioenergy, August 2016 (Study based on simulated modelling which looks at the potential impacts of wood-pellet production in North Carolina on different species)
Recycle, Bury, or Burn Wood Waste Biomass?: LCA Answer Depends on Carbon Accounting, Emissions Controls, Displaced Fuels, and Impact Costs, Jeffrey Morris, Journal of Industrial Ecology, August 2016
Evidence for Losses From Strongly Bound SOM [Soil Organic Matter] Pools After Clear Cutting in a Northern Hardwood Forest, Emily M. Lacroix et.al., Soil Science, April 2016 (Indirectly related to bioenergy: Study about soil carbon losses following clearcutting)
Range and uncertainties in estimating delays in greenhouse gas mitigation potential of forest bioenergy sourced from Canadian forests, Jérôme Laganière et.al., Global Change Biology Bioenergy, December 2015
Thinning Combined With Biomass Energy Production May Increase, Rather Than Reduce, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, D.A. DellaSala and M. Koopman, Report by Geos Institute, November 2015 (Scientific report rather than peer-reviewed study)
Forest soil carbon is threatened by intensive biomass harvesting, David L. Achat et al, Scientific Report, November 2015
How certain are greenhouse gas reductions from bioenergy? Life cycle assessment and uncertainty analysis of wood pellet-to-electricity supply chains from forest residues, Mirjam Röder et.al., Biomass and Bioenergy, August 2015 [This article looks at methane emissions from woodchip and pellet storage.]
Quantifying consequences of removing harvesting residues on forest soils and tree growth – A meta-analysis, D.L. Achat et al, Forest Ecology and Management, July 2015 [This meta-analysis looks at the impacts of ‘whole tree harvesting’, which is increasingly practised for bioenergy, on soil nutrients and future tree growth and finds serious negative impacts.]
Limits to Sustainable Use of Wood Biomass, Janis Abolins and Janis Gravitis, Sustainable Development, Knowledge Society and Smart Future Manufacturing Technologies, World Sustainability Series 2015, April 2015 [The authors looked at bioenergy sourced from fast growing tree plantations and “argue that generating electricity by burning wood is an extremely inefficient use of land under conditions of sustainable supply of the fuel and conclude that transfer to bio-energy without radical changes in the existing economic system would further aggravate the environmental crisis.”]
Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land, Creating a Sustainable Food Future, Tim Searchinger and Ralph Heimlich, published by World Resources Institute, January 2015 [Scientific report, not peer-reviewed study]
The Burning Question: Does Forest Bioenergy Reduce Carbon Emissions? A Review of Common Misconceptions about Forest Carbon Accounting, Michael T. Ter-Mikaelian et al, Journal of Forestry, November 2014
Projected CO2 Emissions Due to Increased Logging Under Senator Ron Wyden’s “Oregon and California Land Grant Act of 2013, Dr. Olga Krankina, Courtesy Faculty, Department of Forest Ecosystems & Society, College of Forestry, Oregon State University, September 2014 [Note increased logging is proposed in part to serve the needs of energy companies seeking to burn biomass in the US.]
Life-Cycle Impacts of Biomass Electricity in 2020, Dr Anna Stephenson and Professor David MacKay, DECC, July 2014 [This study looks at a range of different scenarios for life-cycle CO2 emissions associated with pellets imported from North America to the UK.]
Forest biomass for energy in the EU: current trends, carbon balance and sustainable potential, IINAS, EFI and Joanneum Research, prepared for BirdLife Europe, EEB and Transport Environment, May 2014
Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size, N.L. Stephenson et.al., January 2014
Forestry Bioenergy in the Southeast United States: Implications for Wildlife Habitat and Biodiversity, J.M. Evans et al, National Wildlife Federation, December 2013 [This is not a peer-reviewed study but a report produced through a collaboration of researchers at different universities.
The ‘debt’ is in the detail: A synthesis of recent temporal forest carbon analyses on woody biomass for energy, Patrick Lamers and Martin Junginger, Biofuels, Bioprod, July/August 2013 [Note that the authors presume that most wood pellets are currently produced from residues. There is evidence to the contrary from the southern US and no independent analysis has been carried out in other regions.]
JRC Technical Reports – Carbon Accounting of forest bioenergy, Conclusions and recommendations from a critical literature review, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, 2013
Dead Forests Release Less Carbon Into Atmosphere Than Expected Trees killed in the wake of widespread mountain pine beetle infestations have not resulted in a large spike in carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, contrary to predictions, a University of Arizona-led study has found. Published in Ecology Letters March 2013 as: Persistent reduced ecosystem respiration after insect disturbance in high elevation forests
Mineral soil carbon fluxes in forests and implications for carbon balance assessments, Thomas Buchholz et al, GCB Bioenergy, January 2013 – See here for a Science Daily article summarising the key findings, including: “The findings suggest that calls for an increased reliance on forest biomass be re-evaluated and that forest carbon analyses are incomplete unless they include deep soil, which stores more than 50 percent of the carbon in forest soils.”
Site-specific global warming potentials of biogenic CO2 for bioenergy: contributions from carbon fluxes and albedo dynamics, Francesco Cherubini et al, Environmental Research Letters, November 2012 – for an interview with the lead author see here.
The outcome is in the assumptions: analyzing the effects on atmospheric CO2 levels of increased use of bioenergy from forest biomass, Bjart Holtsmark, 5th October 2012, GCB Bioenergy
Sound Principles and an Important Inconsistency in the 2012 UK Bioenergy Strategy, Tim Searchinger, September 2012
Global Consequences of the Bioenergy Greenhouse Gas Accounting Error, Tim Searchinger, 2012 (for a background presentation by the author, see here)
Using ecosystem CO2 measurements to estimate the timing and magnitude of greenhouse gas mitigation potential of forest bioenergy, Pierre Bernier and David Paré, July 2012 (looking at the carbon impact of sourcing wood from boreal forests in Canada for energy)
Correcting a fundamental error in greenhouse gas accounting related to bioenergy, Helmut Haberl et. al., Energy Policy, Elsevier, June 2012
Large-scale bioenergy from additional harvest of forest biomass is neither sustainable nor greenhouse gas neutral, Ernst-Detlef Schulze et al, April 2012
Biogenic vs. geologic carbon emissions and forest biomass energy production, John S Gunn et al, GCB Bioenergy, April 2012
Biomass Supply and Carbon Accounting for Southeastern Forests, Biomass Energy Resource Center, the Forest Guild, and Spatial Informatics Group for Southern Environmental Law Center and National Wildlife Federation, February 2012
Carbon debt and carbon sequestration parity in forest bioenergy production, Stephen R. Mitchell et al, January 2012
Is woody bioenergy carbon neutral? A comparative assessment of emissions from consumption of woody bioenergy and fossil fuel, Giuliana Zanchi et al, December 2011 – For a background presentation by one of the authors, see here.
Can fuel-reduction treatments really increase forest carbon storage in the western US by reducing future fire emissions?, John L. Campbell et al, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, December 2011 [Note: This article specifically looks at the carbon impacts of forest thinning for fire prevention, rather than at how the timber from forest thinning is then used. However, wood from forest thinning for this purpose is being widely promoted as ‘sustainable’ bioenergy.]
Regional carbon dioxide implications of forest bioenergy production, Tara W. Hudiburg et al, Nature Climate Change, 23rd October 2011
Opinion of the European Environment Agency Scientific Committee on Greenhouse Gas Accounting in Relation to Bioenergy, September 2011
Harvesting in boreal forests and the biofuel carbon debt, Bjart Holtsmark, August 2011
Forest Bioenergy or Forest Carbon? Assessing Trade-Offs in Greenhouse Gas Mitigation with Wood-Based Fuels, J.McKechnie et al, March 2011. summarised here
Effect of policy-based bioenergy demand on southern timber markets: A case study of North Carolina, Robert C. Abt et al, Biomass and Energy (34)
Review of the Manomet Biomass Sustainability and Carbon Policy Study, Mary Booth for the Clean Air Task Force, July 2010
The upfront carbon debt of bioenergy, Joanneum Research, July 2010
Biomass Sustainability and Carbon Policy Study, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, June 2010
Implications of Limiting CO2 Concentrations for Land Use and Energy, (click here for a similar publicly available article by the authors) Marshall Wise et al, May 2010
Forest carbon storage in the northeastern United States: Net effects of harvesting
frequency, post-harvest retention, and wood products, Jared S. Nunery and William S. Keeton, Forest Ecology and Management, March 2010 [Not specifically about bioenergy, this article compares carbon impacts of leaving mature northern hardwood forests undisturbed with those of different logging practices and finds that “even with consideration of C sequestered in harvested wood products, unmanaged northern hardwood forests will sequester 39 to 118% more C than any of the active management options evaluated.]
Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error, Timothy Searchinger et al, October 2009
Energy Sprawl or Energy Efficiency: Climate policy impacts on natural habitats for the United States of America, Robert I McDonald et al, PLoS ONE 4(8): e6802. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006802, August 2009
All The Carbon Counts: Including Land-Based Carbon In Greenhouse Gas Control Strategies Lowers Costs And Preserves Forests, Science Daily, June 2009
Goodbye to Carbon Neutral, Eric Johnson, 2008
3. Scientific studies and reports focussing on potential impacts of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)
Sustainability limits needed for CO2 removal: The true climate mitigation challenge is revealed by considering sustainability impacts, Alexandra Deprez et.al., Science, February 2024
Delayed use of bioenergy crops might threaten climate and food security, Siqing Xu et.al., Nature, September 2022 – Click here for an article summarising the study.
Forest bioenergy update: BECCS and its role in integrated assessment models, European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), February 2022
Irrigation of Biomass Plantations May Globally Increase Water Stress More Than Climate Change, Fabian Stenzel et.al., Nature Communications, March 2021
Considering sustainability thresholds for BECCS in IPCC and biodiversity assessments, Felix Creutzig et.al., Editorial Commentary, GCB-Bioenergy, February 2021
Net Zero and Beyond: What Role for Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage?, Research Paper, Chatham House, January 2020
Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (BECCS): The Distracting Injustice of an Infeasible and Unlikely Technofix, Rachel Smolker, Development, September 2019
Missing Pathways to 1.5°C: The Role of the Land Sector in Ambitious Climate Action, Kate Dooley & Doreen Stabinsky, Climate Land Ambition and Rights Alliance, October 2018
Land use emissions play a critical role in land-based mitigation for Paris climate targets, Anna B Harper et.al., Nature Communications, August 2018
Alternative Pathways to the 1.5 degree target reduce the need for negative emission technologies, van Vuuren et al., Nature Climate Change, April 2018
The Trouble with negative emissions, Kevin Anderson and Glen Peters, Science, October 2016
Expert assessment concludes negative emissions may not deliver, Naomi E. Vaughan and Claire Gough, Environmental Research Letters, August 2016
Biophysical and economic limits to negative CO2 emissions, Pete Smith et.al., Nature Climate Change, December 2015
Ecological limits to terrestrial carbon dioxide removal, Lydia J. Smith and Margaret S. Torn, Climatic Change (2013) [Note: This article specifically looks at Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage as well as at tropical ‘afforestation’, which the authors define as meaning primarily industrial pine and eucalyptus plantations established at the expense of shrubland and grassland. Many of the findings are relevant to large-scale bioenergy in general.]
4. NGO briefings, reports as well as NGO and scientists’ statements focussing on potential impacts of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)
Bioenergy CCS – too little, too expensive, and not net negative, AirClim, November 2024
An analysis of Stockholm Exergi’s proposed flagship BECCS installation, Fern, November 2024
The BECCS Hoax: Using Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage is a Bad Bet for the United Kingdom’s Net Zero Goal, NRDC, October 2024
An analysis of BECCS industries’ methodology for certifying industrial carbon removals, Duncan Brack, published by Fern, March 2024 [This looks at the methodology put forward by Drax and Stockholm Exergi.]
Six Problems with BECCS, Fern, new edition March 2022
A bad biomass bet: Why the leading approach to Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage isn’t carbon negative, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), October 2021
A Leap in the Dark: The Dangers of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), Friends of the Earth International, April 2021
UK: Joint NGO Statement on BECCS, signed by 19 NGOs, March 2021
A Statment by Scientists and Economists on BECCS from Forest Biomass, February 2021
UK Parliamentary Briefing on Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, Cut Carbon Not Forests Coalition, January 2021
Negative Emissions Technologies: Can they Deliver?, Rachel Smolker, Biofuelwatch, December 2020
Gambling with Biomass: Reliance on BECCS undermines [UK] National Grid’s net-zero scenarios, Tomos Harrison, Ember, October 2020
Grave doubts about Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), Open Letter to Scottish Government, signed by 16 environmental organisations in Scotland, September 2020
BioEnergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS): A Dangerous Distraction from Meaningful Climate Action, Biofuelwatch and Friends of the Earth Scotland, June 2020
Last-Ditch Climate Option or Wishful Thinking? Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, Biofuelwatch and Heinrich Boell Foundation, April 2016: This is an updated and summarised version of a longer report with the same title by Biofuelwatch.
5. Other informative websites about biomass energy
Biomess101: A project by Partnership for Policy Integrity which exposes the misinformation about wood-based bioenergy and counters it with fact-based information
Climate and Forest: A website created by Protect the Forest, Sweden which analyses and rebuts myths and claims by logging and bioenergy companies with good science-based information
Dogwood Alliance “Our Forests aren’t Fuel” campaign: Joint campaign by conservation NGOs to protect southern US forests from destruction for bioenergy
Environmental Paper Network: The Environmental Paper Network is an network of NGOs which, as one of its projects, hosts an international working group on biomass.
EU Bioenergy: A joint project by BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Transport & Environment (T&E) with news and analysis about bioenergy in the EU
Forest Defenders: The Forest Defenders Alliance seeks to amplify the voices of NGOs and other civil society groups on critical issues of EU policy affecting forests. Includes a photo library showing pellet mills and logging related to wood bioenergy.
Natural Resources Defense Council “Our Forests aren’t Fuel” campaign: NRDC website about the joint campaign to protect southern US forests from destruction for bioenergy.
6. NGO briefings and reports on biomass energy:
Unheeded Warnings: Forest Biomass Threats to Tropical Forests in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, Earth Insight, Auriga Nusantara, Forest Watch Indonesia, Solutions for Our Climate, Trend Asia, and Mighty Earth, October 2024
Mass Imbalance: Why certification of EU’s biomass energy supplies under the Renewable Energy Directive is failing to protect forests, Simon Counsell, published by Fern, September 2024
The Hijackers of Energy Transition, Trend Asia, September 2024: “Businesses dealing with energy plantation forests providing the raw material needs for biomass co-firing in the
Coal-firing Power Plants (PLTU) are affiliated with established conglomerates with long-standing land and business footprints in the forestry sector [in Indonesia].”
Tinkering with the National Energy Mix Target: A Portrait of the Tumultuous Biomass Project, Forest Watch Indonesia, July 2024, report about wood pellets made in Indonesia for co-firing and for exports
Cofiring is not abatement, Biomass Action Network, June 2024 – Briefing explaining why co-firing wood with coal cannot be considered “abated coal combustion”
Subsidized Deforestation: 10 Years of Biomass Power in South Korea, Solutions for Our Climate, April 2024
Wasted: How Japan’s Biomass Push in South Asia Lays Waste to Forests, Undermines Climate Progress and Drowns Recipients in Debt, December 2023, Mighty Earth
Wiser with Wood, A guide on how to transpose the EU’s revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) to better protect forests, the climate, public health and other wood-using industries, ClientEarth and Fern, November 2023
Smoke, Mirrors, Wood Pellets: Vietnam Clears Native Forest To Supply ‘Clean’ Energy to Asia (including link to Part 2 of the investigation), Earth Journalism Network, November 2023
Violations at wood pellet plants harm Southern communities, Southern Environmental Law Center, November 2023
Greenwashing: A Report on the Corporate Selling of Polluting Wood Pellet Production, Rachel Carson Council, October 2023
By buying wood pellets from the US southeast, Japan is fueling forest degradation, hazardous pollution, Mighty Earth, September 2023
Global Markets for Biomass Energy are Devastating U.S. Forests, Investigation of Enviva’s sourcing practices by Dogwood Alliance, NRDC and Southern Environmental Law Center, June 2023
Piling on the pressure: The impacts of the pulp and paper industry’s domination of the biomass electricity market in Portugal, Biofuelwatch, Acrescimo, Quercus, Iris, Environmental Paper Network, March 2023
EU Bioenergy Policy: Debunking the Myths on Forest Biomass, WWF, March 2023
Lost in the Woods: Canada’s Hidden Logging Emissions Are Equivalent to Those from Oil Sands Operations, NRDC and Nature Canada, October 2022
The EU’s Renewable Energy Policies Driving the Logging and Burning of Europe’s Protected Forests, focussing on Central Europe, Environmental Investigations Agency, September 2022
Forest biomass: Burning the bridge to a renewable future, Issue Brief about the expasion of biomass electricity in South Korea, Solutions for Our Climate, September 2022
The Biomass Delusion: How the UNFCCC carbon accounting system drives the biomass energy problem, and ways to fix it, Briefing by the Environmental Paper Network Forests, Climate & Biomass Working Group, June 2022
Future on fire: How the EU burns trees in the Name of renewable energy, Forest Defenders Alliance, April 2022 [Photographic and satellite image evidence of biomass plants and pellet mills in the EU sourcing roundwood]
Forests can save us, but only if we save them first – the case of Finland: How to Ensure EU Climate and Bioenergy Policies work for forests and people, The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, April 2022
Satellite images show link between wood pellet demand and increased hardwood forest harvesting (North Carolina and Virginia), Southern Environmental Law Center, March 2022
Pollution from residential wood burning: Danish experience in an international perspective, Green Transition Denmark, Clean Heat and Deutsche Umwelthilfe, January 2022
Where there’s fire, there’s smoke – Emissions from domestic heating with wood, European Environmental Bureau and Green Transition Denmark, September 2021
Wood pellet damage: How Dutch government subsidies for Estonian biomass aggravate the biodiversity and climate crisis, report by SOMO, commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands, July 2021
Dutch Wood Pellet Imports: Is Dutch Biomass Burning Contributing to Forest Loss in Baltic States?, report by PROFUNDO, commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands, June 2021
Unsustainable and Ineffective: Why EU Forest Biomass Standards won’t stop destruction, Fern, Canopee, Biofuelwatch, ZERO, Estonian Fund for Nature, ClientEarth, May 2021
Climate Impacts of Industrial Forest Practices in North Carolina, Part II, Climate Resiliency, John Talberth and Liana Olson, published by Dogwood Alliance & Center for Sustainable Economy, March 2021 [Note: North Carolina is at the centre of the world’s largest pellet-producing region, the coastal South-eastern USA.]
Stand4Forests Report Series: Busting Logging Industry Myths, Dogwood Alliance, October 2020
Paper Tiger: Why the EU’s RED II biomass sustainability criteria fail forests and the climate, Mary Booth and Ben Mitchell, Partnership for Policy Integrity, July 2020
The Burning Question: Should the UK end tax breaks on burning wood for power?, Ember, June 2020
Climate finance for bioenergy and tree plantations is fueling conflicts with communities in Brazil, Federica Giunta and Oliver Munnion, FASE (Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional) and Global Forest Coalition, May 2020
Risky business: Canada props up wood pellet export as a false climate solution, Stand.earth, April 2020
Can Biomass Qualify as Renewable Energy? The State of Biomass Policy in South Korea, Solutions For Our Climate (SFOC), April 2020
Can sustainability and greenhouse gas standardsprotect the climate, forests and communities fromthe harmful impacts of wood-based bioenergy?, Global Forest Coalition and Biofuelwatch, March 2020
Forest Management and Climate Change: A New Approach to the French Mitigation Strategy, Gaëtan du Bus de WarnaffeSylvain Angerand, Canopée and Friends of the Earth France, January 2020
Comments about Graanul Invest compliance with Verification Protocol for Sustainable Solid Biomass SDE (Dutch biomass sustainability standards), Estonian Fund for Nature, December 2019
Playing with Fire: An assessment of company plans to burn biomass in EU coal power stations, Sandbag, December 2019
Europe’s National Energy and Climate Plans to 2030: Are they fit for purpose?, Fern, December 2019
Improved biomass cookstoves: should they receive climate finance?, Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, December 2019
An investigation into the Global Environment Facility-funded Green Charcoal Project in Uganda, David Kureeba and Oliver Munnion, NAPE (National Association of Professional Environmentalists) and Global Forest Coalition, November 2019
Burnout: E.U. Clean Energy Policies Lead to Forest Destruction, Natural Resources Defense Council, November 2019
Climate Impacts of Industrial Forest Practices in North Carolina, Synthesis of best available science and implications for forest carbon policy, Part I, Dogwood Allliance, September 2019
Bioenergy in West Africa: Impacts on Women and Forests, Forest Cover 59, Global Forest Coalition, September 2019
The Carbon Impacts of UK Electricity Produced by Burning Wood Pellets from Drax’s Three U.S. Mills, Spatial Informatics Group, commissioned by Southern Environmental Law Center and National Wildlife Federation, May 2019
German climate finance for bioenergy: a threat to forests and climate goals?, Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, November 2018
Fire and Plantations in Portugal: A case study on the risks of using tree plantations to remove carbon from the atmosphere, Oliver Munnion, Global Forest Coalition, September 2018 [Note: Spain and Portugal rely heavily on domestic tree plantations for bioenergy.]
Dirty Deception: How the Wood Biomass Industry Skirts the Clean Air Act, Environmental Integrity Project, April 2018
Covered in smoke, Dr Mike Holland, published by Fern, January 2018 – Report about the air quality impacts of biomass plants in Europe
Something Nasty in the Woodshed: How Biomass Subsidies are Secretly Funding Coal, Sandbag, October 2017
Destroying Southern [US] forests for international export, Dogwood Alliance, August 2017 [Includes a calculation of area of forest clearfelled for pellet exports]
The Sustainable Biomass Program: Smokescreen for Forest Destruction and Corporate Non-Accountability, report by Dogwood Alliance and National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), June 2017
Bioenergy in the EU, report by Hands off the Land and Transnational Institute, December 2016
The Black Book of Bioenergy, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, together with Transport and Environment, November 2016
Money to Burn? The U.K. Needs to Dump Biomass and Replace Its Coal Plants with Truly Clean Energy, report written by Vivid Economics, published by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), October 2016
Forest Biomass Energy Policy in the Maritime Provinces: Accounting for Science, East Coast Environmental Law, December 2015 – This report looks at the carbon impacts of biomass in or from energy from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada
Up in Flames: How biomass burning wrecks Europe’s forests, Fern, November 2015
Bioenergy threatens the heart of North American wetland forests, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), October 2015
Climate for deception: Why electricity consumers who care about global warming and air pollution need FTC protection from biomass industry greenwashing,Kelly Bistow and Mary Booth, Partnership for Policy Integrity, July 2014
A new look at land-grabs in the global South linked to EU biomass policies, Biofuelwatch, June 2014
A calculation of the EU Bioenergy land footprint – Discussion paper on land use related to EU bioenergy targets for 2020 and an outlook for 2030, by Liesbeth de Schutter and Stefan Giljum, Institute for the Environment and Regional Development Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), commissioned by Friends of the Earth Europe, May 2014
See here for a summary briefing of the above report by Friends of the Earth Europe
Trees, Trash, and Toxics: How Biomass Energy Has Become the New Coal, by Mary S. Booth, Partnership for Policy Integrity, April 2014
Biomass Sustainability Standards – a Credible Tool for Avoiding Negative Impacts from Large-scale Bioenergy?, joint briefing by Biofuelwatch, Global Forest Coalition and Econexus, January 2014
Biofuelwatch Report: Biomass: The Chain of Destruction (including the case report Plantations for Energy: A Case Study of Suzano’s plantations for wood pellet exports in the Baixo Parnaíba region, Maranhão, Brazil by Ivonete Gonçalves de Souza from CEPEDES and Winfridus Overbeek from World Rainforest Movement)
Enviva’s Wood Pellet Mill in Ahoskie,North Carolina Threatens Endangered Ecosystems and Wildlife, NRDC and Dogwood Alliance, August 2013
Playing with Fire: Wood pellet fires and explosion, compilation of accidents between 2008 and 2012, Port Talbot Residents Against Power Stations, 2013
Dirtier than coal? Why Government plans to subsidise burning trees are bad for the planet, RSPB, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, November 2012
Sustainable Biomass: A Modern Myth, Biofuelwatch report, September 2012
Bio-Economies: The EU’s real ‘green economy’ agenda?, report published by World Development Movement and Transnational Institute, June 2012
Bio-Economy versus Biodiversity, Report by the Global Forest Coalition, 25th April 2012
Impact of EU bioenergy policies on developing countries, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, European Commission, Policy Briefing, March 2012
The new trend of biomass plantations in Brazil: tree monocultures, Winnie Overbeek, World Rainforest Movement, November 2011
Massachusetts Forests at the Crossroads: Forests, Parks, Landscapes, Environment, Quality of Life, Communities and Economy Threatened by Industrial Scale Logging & Biomass Power, Massachusetts Forest Watch, report, March 2009 – 12 MB file
The Biomass Dilemma, Dr Ivan Gyulai, CEEweb, 2008
7. Letters and Resolutions about biomass:
Open letter by 550 scientists to EU on forestry, January 2023
Letter by 650 scientists urging end to burning forest biomass for energy for sake of nature and biodiversity, December 2022
Resolution in Opposition to Wood Pellets Manufacturing and Use of Wood-Bioenergy, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), October 2021
Scientists response to US advocacy for burning forest biomass, March 2021
Letter Regarding Use of Forests for Bioenergy to President Biden, President von der Leyen, President Michel, Prime Minister Suga, and President Moon signed by around 500 scientists, February 2021
Position on wood burning on an industrial scale, signed by 92 scientists in Estonia, February 2021
Forests are carbon sinks – Wood burning is not carbon neutral, Statement by Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management, Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung, Naturwald Akademie, Deutsche Umweltstiftung (in German) – Statement by research institutes in Germany, March 2020
Five Reasons the Earth’s Climate Depends on Forests, Statement by 40 Scientists, May 2019
The industrialisation of the Bioeconomy poses risks to the climate, the environment, and people, November 2018, Open Letter signed by 120 civil society groups from 44 countries
Position Statement on Forest Biomass Energy: The Biomass Delusion, signed by 136 civil society organisations, October 2018
Scientists letter to lead European Parliament negotiators regarding biomass rules in renewable energy directive, submitted June 2018
Letter from 800 scientists to the EU Parliament regarding forest bioenergy, submitted January 2018
27 U.S. Scientists Call for Wildlife Protections in EU Biomass Policy, January 2018
Open letter by around 100 scientists to Governor Cooper, North Carolina, November 2017
Why the IEA Bioenergy Group got it wrong concerning the Chatham House report, by three scientists (William Moomaw, Alessandro Agostini, Tim Searchinger), March 2017
Letter by US NGOs urging the Danish Pension Fund PKA to divest from MGT Power’s Teesside Biomass Plant, November 2016
Open Letter to the 100 scientists who signed the ‘biomass carbon benefits’ letter, by Mary Booth PhD, William Moomaw PhD, and George Woodwell PhD, August 2016
Open Letter by seven US environmental NGOs to US Secretary of State, Thomas Vilsack, July 2016
Open Letter to E.On and Uniper: Planned wood firing at the Provence Power Station poses threat to forests, 26 organisations, June 2016
Open Letter to Senators Wyden and Merkley by Mark Harmon, Richardson Chair and Professor Forest Science, and Beverley E. Law, Professor, Forest Ecosystems & Society, Oregon State University, June 2016
Position Statement on Bioenergy by the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen), 2015
Letter by 78 Scientists to the US EPA protesting against biogenic carbon emissions from biomass being ignored, February 2015
Letter by environmental and community organisations in 23 US states to EPA: Federal permitting for bioenergy facilities, December 2013
41 US Scientists’ Letter to the EPA , November 2013
Burning wood from Southern US forests to generate electricity in Europe, Letter to the EU signed by over 60 US scientists, August 2013
International Open Letter: Converting coal plans to burn biomass only replaces one disaster with another, April 2013
Letter of concern from forest groups regarding RWE’s biomass investments, false claims and greenwashing around wood-based bioenergy, Global Forest Coalition, December 2012
Joint NGO Letter to the UK Committee on Climate Change Bioenergy Review, 11th November 2011
Soil organic matter management across the EU: best practices, constraints and trade-offs, Final Report for:
European Commission, DG Environment, Lead: VITO (Belgium), in collaboration with BIOIS (France) and RIKS (Netherlands), October 2011: The report confirms that a high level of forest residues recovery and stump removal for bioenergy would lead to significant soil carbon losses across Europe.
American Lung Association Public Policy Position on Biomass, 11th June 2011
Open Letter by Mark Harmon, Timothy Searchinger and William Moomaw to Members of the Washington State Legislature, February 2011
Stop the Destruction of Forests and Lands for Wood-based Bioenergy, Declaration by over 90 organisations worldwide, May 2010
Letter of Concern Regarding Biomass Burning, North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians, April 2010
Physicians for Social Responsibility/Pioneer Valley Oppose Construction of Biomass Power Plants in the Pioneer Valley, February 2010
Massachusetts Medical Society Adopts Policy Opposing Biomass Power Plants, December 2009
Letter by US physicians and organisations: Health Effects of Biomass Burning Under S.1733 Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, October 2009
Resolution by the Florida Medical Association: Resource Conservation, Waste Recycling, Health Risks Caused by Incinerators, 2009
Letter by the Oregon Toxics Alliance to the Environmental Protection Agency, October 2009
Letter by the American Lung Association in Massachusetts, June 2009
Letter by US organisations to Chairmen Waxman and Markey, April 2009