Biofuelwatch is proud to be a co-author of this new report: "Unsustainable and Ineffective: Why EU Forest Biomass Standards Won't Stop Destruction" . The publication reveals that the European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive (RED) sustainability criteria fails to...
Biomass (solid)
Drax’s Portuguese pellets: What wood is really being used?
In 2020, Drax burned almost 150,000 tonnes of pellets produced in Portugal, making Portugal it’s fourth largest supplier. According to its annual report, 88% of the wood used consisted of “low-grade roundwood” and “thinnings”. The Pinewells pellet mill in Central...
Report about Germany’s Bush Control and Biomass Utilisation Project in Namibia
German development and climate finance project used to create biomass supply chain for German energy providers Click here to download the report And click here to read an open letter by 40 civil society organisations opposed to this project. An related article on a...
Critique of UNIQUE GmbH’s report “Greenhouse Gas Assessment of Bush Control and Biomass Utilization in Namibia”:
Background: Since 2013, the German government has been financing a development and climate finance project in Namibia called “Bush Control and Biomass Utilisation (BCBU)”. It is managed by the German Development Corporation, GIZ. Since 2019, the project’s focus has...
Negative Emissions Technologies: can they deliver?
A negative emission technology (NET) is a technological approach to removing greenhouse gases that have already been emitted into the atmosphere. That differs from “mitigation” which focuses on preventing emissions in the first place. Aside from concerns about how...
Briefing about the possible conversion of Onyx’s Wilhelmshaven power station to biomass
Is wood-based bioenergy climate friendly if it comes from residues?
Biofuelwatch briefing about the definitions and impacts of forestry and wood-industry residues Click here to download the briefing Summary: Wood pellet and energy companies burning biomass often claim that they rely on wood residues or low-value wood, and there is a...
Investigation into European Investment Bank loan for Curtis Biomass Plant in Galicia
European Investment Bank's loan for Greenalia's Curtis Biomass Plant: A Faiilure of Due Diligence? - Joint report by Salva la Selva and Biofuelwatch Click here to download the full report with references. Click here for the German version and click here for the report...
Biofuelwatch and Global Forest Coalition briefing about biomass sustainability standards
[add-this] Please click here to read full report Can sustainability and greenhouse gas standards protect the climate, forests and communities from the harmful impacts of wood-based bioenergy? Logging site from which Enviva pellet mill was supplied, North Carolina,...
Biofuelwatch report about climate finance for biomass cookstoves
Improved biomass cookstoves: should they receive climate finance? Report by Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch that contributes to Global Forest Coalition research into German climate finance. Summary: Clean and efficient biomass cookstoves have been attracting...
Observations of pellet mills and logging in Estonia
In spring 2018 and July 2019, we visited a total of three Graanul Invest pellet mills in Estonia, as well as looking at the impacts of logging in the country. We have now published photos and evidence of what we saw: Estonia Logging and pellet production Graanul...
Risky Biomass Business: The reputational and financial risks of investing in forest biomass energy
Joint briefing to investors by the Global Forest Coalition, Environmental Paper Network and Biofuelwatch Click here to read the briefing. Summary: Investors in electricity generated from burning forest wood are facing increasing reputational risks, as well as facing...
BECCS: Discourse about unicorns descends into real-world farce
This month’s “breaking news” on BECCS: Small UK startup company to test some unproven new solvent nobody’s published anything about in order to help Drax put fizz into beer The ‘world’s first’ Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) ‘pilot project’ has...
Biofuelwatch briefing about EDF’s proposals to convert Le Havre and Cordemais power stations to biomass
EDF proposal to convert Cordemais and Le Havre power stations to waste wood or mixed waste: A Trojan Horse for burning coal and forest wood from 2022? Update: EDF decided not to go ahead with a biomass project at Le Havre. In July 2021, EDF cancelled plans for the...
Investor Briefing on Drax’s Biomass 2018
This Investor Briefing was handed to Drax investors entering the Drax AGM in York on 25 April 2018, as well as interested passers-by. It was subsequently sent to Drax's principle institutional investors. We invite investors to talk to us about their Drax investments....
The Strange Case of Uskmouth Power Station
Note: This briefing has not been updated since October 2018. As of January 2020, the power station has not been converted, and the developers are instead commissioning a feasibility study into the possibility of burning pellets from Refuse Derived Fuel. Uskmouth coal...
Biomass Basics
What are the problems with big biomass? In a nutshell - there are three problems: 1) It takes huge areas of land and huge quantities of wood to supply a tiny fraction of the energy we use. 2) Burning biomass emits CO2 to the atmosphere, just as burning fossil fuels...
UK Coal Phaseout to be introduced with dangerous loopholes and delays
Biofuelwatch briefing about the UK Government's coal phaseout decision announced in January 2018. "The Government announced in 2015 that it seeks to end coal burning for electricity within a decade, albeit only if “ a shift to new gas can be achieved within these...