Ahead of the UN Biodiversity summit scheduled to start on December 6 in Montreal, over 650 scientists have called on world leaders to stop the burning of trees to make energy as it destroys valuable habitats for wildlife.
In the buildup to Cop15, the UN biodiversity summit, the scientists say that countries urgently need to stop using forest bioenergy to create heat and electricity as it undermines international climate and nature targets. Instead, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar should be used, they say.
According to a letter addressed to world leaders including Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, bioenergy has “wrongly been deemed ‘carbon neutral’” and many countries are increasingly relying on forest biomass to meet net-zero goals. However, “the best thing for the climate and biodiversity is to leave forests standing – and biomass energy does the opposite,” it says.
The letter said that if global leaders agree to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030 at the Cop15 meeting in Montreal, they must also commit to ending reliance on biomass energy, warning that commitments made at Cop15 and at climate conferences could be undermined if this practice continues.
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In his reaction, Prof Alexandre Antonelli, A lead author of the letter and director of science at Kew Gardens said that ensuring energy security is a major societal challenge, but the answer is not to burn our precious forests. Calling this ‘green energy’ is misleading and risks accelerating the global biodiversity crisis.
A report by the International Energy Agency says that bioenergy is expected to account for a third of “low-carbon” energy by 2030. The UK is the top importer of wood pellets for biomass and burning biomass is an important part of the UK’s net zero strategies, and has been subsidised by £5.6bn over the past decade.
The scientists said that cutting down trees for bioenergy results in the release of carbon that would otherwise have been locked up in carbon-rich forests, thereby increasing emissions and creating “carbon debt”, which is only paid off decades or even centuries later if the trees are regrown.
According to reports, burning wood for electricity is also inefficient as it releases comparatively more carbon into the atmosphere than gas or coal. Additional energy is used to harvest and transport the wood. Experts have been warning for years about the climate impacts of bioenergy, but now they are also finding out that it has dire risks for nature too, with many cases of protected forests being affected.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
