EU renewable energy rule called threat to forests and climate

Because governments make poor energy choices when acting solo, little can be expected from committees of them.

Since 2009, the European Union has treated round wood used for heating and power generation as renewable energy under its ambitious targets for combating climate change.

As a result, Chatham House said in a study last June, “The EU remains the main global source of demand for wood for modern uses of biomass for power and heat.”

Chatham House assessed conditions before the EU formally increased its target for renewable energy to 32% in 2030 from 20% in 2020, with an “upwards revision clause by 2023.”

Burning renewable wood instead of nonrenewable hydrocarbons lowers emissions of carbon dioxide when the fuel represents waste otherwise subject to CO2-releasing rot. Much of the solid biomass Europe burns is wood waste and residue, about a third of it imported from the US, Canada, and Russia. But cutting down trees to burn is different. Critics worry the practice will grow enough to threaten forests under the EU’s new directive.

“Unlike wood wastes, harvesting additional wood just for burning is likely to increase carbon in the atmosphere for decades to centuries,” says a new Nature Communications comment by a team led by Timothy D. Searchinger of Princeton University.

Trees can be replenished. But a tree takes much longer to attain the carbon-absorption capacity of its predecessor than the original does to burn. The carbon deficit lasts a long time. Searchinger et al. say the EU acted against the advice of 800 scientists who argued that harvesting trees for combustion accelerates climate change.

But subsidies, such as those many European countries offer to encourage use of renewable energy, are difficult to replace once businesses grow up around them.

And when the EU finalized its renewable-energy directive, it said the move would “allow Europe to keep its leadership role in the fight against climate change.”

Decisions by governments claiming leadership seldom match those of people needing affordable energy.

(From the subscription area of www.ogj.com, posted Sept. 14, 2018; to comment, visit the Commentary channel at www.ogj.com/oilandgascommunity.)