COLLECTION /

BIOENERGY

Bioenergy explained...

Bioenergy already accounts for around 60% of all the renewable energy in Europe. As the world begins to phase out coal power, some countries see biomass as its successor fuel – but is burning trees and plant matter really a renewable and low carbon energy source?

Land and Climate Review hosts this collection to provide a definitive perspective on bioenergy – the science, the policy, and the big picture for the planet.

Introduction to Bioenergy

Book: The Climate Implications of Burning Wood for Heat and Power
  • Introduction to Bioenergy

Forest bioenergy – key research

A regularly updated list of academic papers, links to think tank reports and other useful material on forest bioenergy.
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  • Collection
The scientific case against burning forest biomass for energy
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  • Collection
What is Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage? The BECCS for power basics.
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  • Collection
The climate impact of burning wood for energy
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pODCASTS

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Are biofuels worse for the climate than petrol and jet fuel?
With Professor John DeCicco
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Why bioenergy increases CO2 emissions even more than burning coal
With Professor John Sterman
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The huge emissions from burning US wood overseas 
With Duncan Brack
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Lina Burnelius on Sweden’s forestry model
Sweden’s forestry model: sustainable or greenwash?
With Lina Burnelius
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What is BECCS and what does it mean for climate policy?
With Dr. Daniel Quiggin
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MORE bioenergy podcasts
Analysis / The importance of forests to the carbon cycle
Forests cover around a third of the world’s land area and have a central role to play in the global climate cycle as carbon sinks, storing huge quantities of carbon in plant biomass and in the soil.
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Opinion / It’s time to end subsidies for burning wood from forests
Trees are worth much more to humanity alive than dead, say 500 scientists in an open letter to leaders in the EU, US and East Asia
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Interview/ Will bioenergy with carbon capture (BECCS) work?
Ember’s Phil Macdonald explains his report on BECCS at Drax. Will a future BECCS plant be eye-wateringly expensive and actually make our climate worse?
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infographic

Information overload?

Get an overview of the conerns around the UK’s power biomass model in one image. Click to enlarge.

Bioenergy Policy

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  • Bioenergy Policy

Why Japan’s renewable subsidies need to change

Alasdair MacEwen talks to Mighty Earth's Japan Director about the growth of the wood-burning industry in the country.
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  • Bioenergy Policy

What did the 2015 ‘Bioimpact Project’ say about burning wood in the EU?

Edward Robinson revisits the controversial 2015 study - examining a 2018 summary document that restates its findings.
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  • Bioenergy Policy

EU renewable energy policy subsidises surge in logging of Estonia’s protected areas

The survival of Europe’s most valuable – and threatened – wildlife and habitats depends on Natura 2000. By Siim Kuresoo of the Estonian Fund for Nature (ELF).
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  • Bioenergy Policy

The EU should support efforts in Denmark and the Netherlands to stop wood-burning

Reversing damaging incentives to burn wood for heat and power is crucial if the EU wants to remain a leader on climate and biodiversity, argue Annika Lund Gade and Peter de Jong.
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