It’s the start of a new week, and what better way to get our brains into gear than with a quick
quiz?
Question: Which source has the biggest share of renewable energy in OECD countries’ primary energy mix?
Answer: If you said bioenergy, you get an A+. In these industrialised countries, many large-scale, centralised energy generators are now burning wood to replace coal.
ECO has been listening in to Parties showcase their efforts to meet the ambition levels identified at COP28 as they take part in the first ever Global Stocktake (GST) Dialogue. In their efforts to firm up their NDCs next year in line with the GST outcome, parties will run into para 28 and its goal to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) report last week on Tripling Renewable Capacity found that Parties are not on track to meeting these targets (see Wednesday 5 June’s ECO article, ‘Light and Shadow by the IEA – Close the 3000GW Renewables Gap’). The scramble to make the NDC enhancement deadline will see parties make some hard calculations on how to deliver this target, and investments in false solutions like centralised big biomass energy are at risk of increasing. With the FAO roadmap expecting a doubling of solid biomass by 2030 and tripling by 2050, the issue has become a big one which entails the logging of vast swathes of natural forests and expanding monoculture plantations.
So, the biomass report card is failing to impress. Will it get an A, top of the class? Or an F for fail?
Climate – F: Unsuitable and outdated IPCC reporting rules create the mirage of bioenergy being a zero-carbon source (as it is included in the LULUCF reporting instead). Be aware that per energy unit, woody biomass (trees) is on par with or higher than coal in terms of carbon emissions.
Nature – F: Destructive logging for wood pellets threatens biodiversity and climate resilience, harming forests’ ability to deliver ecosystem services like clean drinking water, flood protection, and clean air.
People – F: From exacerbating conflicts over land forest resources to emitting harmful particulates, vulnerable communities often bear the brunt of industrial bioenergy’s poor performance on human rights, health and wellbeing.
The results are out, industrial biomass has no place in a climate safe, just, equitable and sustainable energy transition. The evidence shows we need to exclude the use of woody biomass from forests to meet NDC energy targets. We cannot burn our way out of the climate crisis.