Chatham House and Woodwell Climate Research Center are launching an exciting new paper demonstrating that the use of biomass for power and heat is contributing to an increase in carbon emissions in the atmosphere, even though existing policy frameworks treat it as zero-carbon at the point of combustion and accordingly grant it subsidies and regulatory support.
The paper examines one particular source of woody biomass: wood pellets sourced from the US that are burnt for electricity and combined heat and power in the EU and UK. Taking into account emissions from their combustion and their supply chain and forgone removals of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere due to the harvest of live trees and emissions from the decay of roots and unused logging residues left in the forest after harvest, it finds that US-sourced wood pellets burnt in the UK were responsible for 13 million – 16 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2019, making it less likely that the UK will achieve its climate targets.
This live webinar will present the key findings from the paper and will be followed by a panel discussion and a live Q&A.
