Wood-energy sector worried by EU attempt to limit biomass use

European Parliament plans to exclude some types of primary wood from the EU’s renewable energy goals is causing jitters among the industry, which points to bioenergy as an essential part of the EU’s energy security.

Biomass currently makes up 60% of all European renewable energy, with the heating and cooling sector the largest end-user, according to EU statistics.

Following a July 2021 proposal from the European Commission to revise the renewable energy directive, the Parliament adopted its position in September which aims at limiting the amount of biomass that can be burned.

This is achieved through the exclusion of certain types of ‘primary woody biomass’ from what is considered renewable energy, as well as through a cap on its usage.

The Parliament’s proposal to exclude some primary woody biomass from the directive has proven controversial, with some governments concerned it could jeopardise energy security.

“The real challenge that we are facing within the next two to three years is actually to address energy security, and basically keeping ourselves warm and our industries afloat,” said Pauline Lucas, policy director at Euroheat and Power, the international network for district energy.

This calls for the use of “all sustainable heating sources that we have at hand” – including woody biomass, she told participants at a EURACTIV event on Thursday (1 December).

Bioenergy represents 20% of the energy mix in district heating across the EU. And according to Lucas, biomass will remain an important resource to decarbonise the heating sector, phase out fossil fuels, and recover wood residues that cannot be used for other purposes.

Limiting its use “could really worsen the decarbonisation pathway of our sector,” Lucas warned, saying it risked driving the market away from district heating.

“In terms of the value chain, this could have quite far-reaching consequences,” she added.

EU Parliament groups rally behind plans to end biomass subsidies

The three largest political groups in the European Parliament have backed proposals to end subsidies for biomass used in power plants and exclude primary wood burning from the EU’s renewable energy targets.

Biomass crowding out investments in wind, solar

Bioenergy has been criticised by environmental groups who say burning wood drives deforestation, destroys natural habitats, and undermines forests acting as carbon sinks in the fight against climate change.

According to them, policymakers should stop encouraging the burning of primary wood by excluding it from the EU’s renewable energy targets.

“I really wonder how you can decarbonise anything by burning wood,” said Martin Pigeon from FERN, an international NGO campaigning to protect forests.

For an equal amount of heat or electricity, burning wood releases more CO2 than burning gas, oil and even coal, Pigeon highlighted, saying that the forestry industry is “contributing to massive degradation of the land sink”.

“When we hear about net-zero, the net is just forests. When you talk about land, it’s the second biggest sink we have after the oceans,” he explained.

Pigeon also remarked that the possibility to count biomass as renewable energy allows some EU countries like Hungary to reach their renewable energy targets mostly thanks to bioenergy, thus delaying investments in wind and solar.

“What is the signal that the EU wants to send investors about the future of its energy? Is it burning wood again, like we’ve done for one million years already? Or do we want something that’s actually cleaner and that is not done at the expense of our health, at the expense of forests, and of our future?” he asked.

Europe rapidly losing its forest carbon sink, study shows

The European Union is losing its forest carbon sink at an alarming rate, with harvesting for biomass fuel a key driver behind the loss, according to new research released on Monday (7 November).

Cascading principle

Green lawmakers agree, saying a ceiling must be placed on the amount of primary woody biomass that can be counted as part of the member states’ renewable energy targets.

Ville Niinistö, a Green MEP from Finland, explained during the event that EU member states have increased their use of forest resources in the past ten years because of EU objectives on renewables.

As the demand for biomass grows, the potential for an increase in sustainable production is limited by ecological factors like the need to protect biodiversity and maintain Europe’s carbon sinks, he argues.

“Studies suggest that the gap between the potential demand for biomass and its sustainable supply can be as big as 40-70%” by 2050 depending on the scenarios, said John Bell, director at the European Commission’s research and innovation, who spoke to EURACTIV in a recent interview.

While in the short-term burning wood for energy security is part of the answer, a ‘cascading principle’ should be applied, where biomass is allocated to the most valuable uses at each stage and recycled for as long as possible until it is eventually burned for energy, Niinistö said.

“We are already developing better and better methods of using the residues than just burning. Burning is the lowest value product that you can get out of the tree, so nothing should be burned that can be used for a better product,” the Finnish MEP stated.

Pierre de Montlivault, president of the French Federation of Energy and Environmental Services (Fedene), argues that energy savings should be also part of the solution to achieve a reduction in the use of biomass.

“We need biomass to be able to reach our objectives in France for decarbonising the heating sector,” he said. “But the best way to do that with minimum quantity of wood is to do energy savings,” he added, underlying that energy savings should be the first priority of energy policy in Europe.

“People always talk first of energy pollution, they should first talk about energy consumption,” de Montlivault argued.

> Watch the full EURACTIV event below:

This article follows the EURACTIV-organised policy debate “The wood-energy sector – An ally for the sustainable management of EU forests?” supported by Électricité de France

[Edited by Frédéric Simon]

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