Burning forest biomass for energy is a climate own goal

Data from Europe shows that there has been a major increase in the intensification of logging in Europe over the past five to seven years and this could prevent many European nations reaching their emissions reduction targets under the Paris and Glasgow agreements. The same process is now being pushed heavily by certain forest industry lobbyists and government agencies in several Australian states, including Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.

Project team members Brendan Mackey and Heather Keith and their colleague David Lindenmayer have published an article in The Canberra Times challenging the assumptions around the burning of native forest biomass as a 'renewable energy'.

This biomass as an energy source proposed by some industry lobby groups is native forest biomass which can include all or part of a tree's woody trunk and branches. Using forest biomass for energy is now widespread across Europe, and vast quantities of timber are now exported from North America to burn in the United Kingdom, France and elsewhere. The same process is now being pushed heavily by certain forest industry lobbyists and government agencies in several Australian states, including Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.

This represents a serious error in how carbon emissions are accounted for.

Burning forest biomass for energy is a climate own goal

Article authors

Brendan Mackey

Heather Keith

Additional authors