Major new research has been published by Government today that demonstrates that power generated from biomass can be good for the climate - but it can also be worse than coal. It is clear that certain sources of bioenergy should not be receiving public money under the guise of being clean green energy sources, so the RSPB is calling for urgent action to make sure this doesn't happen.
Today’s report has been long in the making and in a way it tells us little new. You might remember our report in 2012 that initially raised our concerns that burning wood from forestry in particular could be bad for the climate. Or the concerns we and others raised in early 2013 when a draft of today’s report was first shared. Indeed, these findings have been replicated in many studies, synthesised in this report from the Joint Research Centre last year.
What’s significant is that the Biomass Emissions and Counterfactual carbon calculator (BEAC) - as it is known - is owned by the Government and therefore can’t be ignored.
Until now, the burning of trees in power stations has been justified by claiming the chimney emissions are offset by the carbon that the forest takes in when it re-grows after being harvested, but this is misleading. It can take decades, if not centuries for the trees to recapture that carbon, leaving us with more emissions in the atmosphere now – when we least need it.
This means that whilst some types of bioenergy can reduce emissions – such as when wastes and residues are being used – others can result in more emissions than fossil fuels, even after 100 years. Yet as many media reports have already highlighted, the kind of wood associated with high emissions is already being burnt in UK power stations. Government can no longer duck the issue of public subsidies going to dirty energy.
Government plans are for biomass to generate 5-11% of UK electricity by 2020. This will require an enormous amount of wood. To give you a sense of this: converting half of Drax power station to wood – as is currently planned - alone needs more than the equivalent of the entire UK forestry harvest. No doubt some of this can come from sustainable, low carbon residues, wastes and other sources of biomass, but serious questions have to be asked about whether this is a realistic ambition in the light of today’s study.
The RSPB is committed to sustainable, low carbon renewable energy, and we’re not afraid of saying so. We’re even helping develop new sources of sustainable bioenergy and have biomass heating systems in some of our own buildings. We have always called for genuinely sustainable biomass to be supported by Government. However, at the moment unsustainable biomass is also receiving public money and today’s analysis shows what the consequences of this could be for the climate, let alone forest wildlife.
This needs to stop, so today we are calling on Government to commit to reviewing its bioenergy policy in the light of its own report, and to fully account for all carbon emissions from burning wood.