Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Norton, Michael
Data de Publicação: 2019
Outros Autores: Baldi, Andras, Buda, Vicas, Carli, Bruno, Cudlin, Pavel, Jones, Mike B., Korhola, Atte, Michalski, Rajmund, Novo, Francisco, Oszlányi, Július, Santos, F.D., Schink, Bernhard, Shepherd, John, Vet, Louise, Walloe, Lars, Wijkman, Anders
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/62268
Resumo: In recent years, the production of pellets derived from forestry biomass to replace coal for electricity generation has been increasing, with over 10 million tonnes traded internationally—primarily between United States and Europe but with an increasing trend to Asia. Critical to this trade is the classification of woody biomass as ‘renewable energy’ and thus eligible for public subsidies. However, much scientific study on the net effect of this trend suggests that it is having the opposite effect to that expected of renewable energy, by increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide for substantial periods of time. This review, based on recent work by Europe's Academies of Science, finds that current policies are failing to recognize that removing forest carbon stocks for bioenergy leads to an initial increase in emissions. Moreover, the periods during which atmospheric CO2 levels are raised before forest regrowth can reabsorb the excess emissions are incompatible with the urgency of reducing emissions to comply with the objectives enshrined in the Paris Agreement. We consider how current policy might be reformed to reduce negative impacts on climate and argue for a more realistic science-based assessment of the potential of forest bioenergy in substituting for fossil fuels. The length of time atmospheric concentrations of CO2 increase is highly dependent on the feedstocks and we argue for regulations to explicitly require these to be sources with short payback periods. Furthermore, we describe the current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change accounting rules which allow imported biomass to be treated as zero emissions at the point of combustion and urge their revision to remove the risk of these providing incentives to import biomass with negative climate impacts. Reforms such as these would allow the industry to evolve to methods and scales which are more compatible with the basic purpose for which it was designed.
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spelling Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergyIn recent years, the production of pellets derived from forestry biomass to replace coal for electricity generation has been increasing, with over 10 million tonnes traded internationally—primarily between United States and Europe but with an increasing trend to Asia. Critical to this trade is the classification of woody biomass as ‘renewable energy’ and thus eligible for public subsidies. However, much scientific study on the net effect of this trend suggests that it is having the opposite effect to that expected of renewable energy, by increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide for substantial periods of time. This review, based on recent work by Europe's Academies of Science, finds that current policies are failing to recognize that removing forest carbon stocks for bioenergy leads to an initial increase in emissions. Moreover, the periods during which atmospheric CO2 levels are raised before forest regrowth can reabsorb the excess emissions are incompatible with the urgency of reducing emissions to comply with the objectives enshrined in the Paris Agreement. We consider how current policy might be reformed to reduce negative impacts on climate and argue for a more realistic science-based assessment of the potential of forest bioenergy in substituting for fossil fuels. The length of time atmospheric concentrations of CO2 increase is highly dependent on the feedstocks and we argue for regulations to explicitly require these to be sources with short payback periods. Furthermore, we describe the current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change accounting rules which allow imported biomass to be treated as zero emissions at the point of combustion and urge their revision to remove the risk of these providing incentives to import biomass with negative climate impacts. Reforms such as these would allow the industry to evolve to methods and scales which are more compatible with the basic purpose for which it was designed.WileyRepositório da Universidade de LisboaNorton, MichaelBaldi, AndrasBuda, VicasCarli, BrunoCudlin, PavelJones, Mike B.Korhola, AtteMichalski, RajmundNovo, FranciscoOszlányi, JúliusSantos, F.D.Schink, BernhardShepherd, JohnVet, LouiseWalloe, LarsWijkman, Anders2024-01-26T19:07:57Z2019-082019-08-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/62268engNorton, M., Báldi, A., Buda, V., Carli, B., Cudlín, P., Jones, M. B., Korhola, A., Michalski, R., Novo, F., Oszlányi, J., Santos, F. D., Schink, B., Shepherd, J. G., Vet, L. E. M., Walløe, L., & Wijkman, A. (2019). Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy. Gcb Bioenergy, 11(11), 1256–1263. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.1264310.1111/gcbb.12643info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-01-29T01:21:24Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/62268Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T01:58:40.825822Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
title Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
spellingShingle Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
Norton, Michael
title_short Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
title_full Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
title_fullStr Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
title_full_unstemmed Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
title_sort Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy
author Norton, Michael
author_facet Norton, Michael
Baldi, Andras
Buda, Vicas
Carli, Bruno
Cudlin, Pavel
Jones, Mike B.
Korhola, Atte
Michalski, Rajmund
Novo, Francisco
Oszlányi, Július
Santos, F.D.
Schink, Bernhard
Shepherd, John
Vet, Louise
Walloe, Lars
Wijkman, Anders
author_role author
author2 Baldi, Andras
Buda, Vicas
Carli, Bruno
Cudlin, Pavel
Jones, Mike B.
Korhola, Atte
Michalski, Rajmund
Novo, Francisco
Oszlányi, Július
Santos, F.D.
Schink, Bernhard
Shepherd, John
Vet, Louise
Walloe, Lars
Wijkman, Anders
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Norton, Michael
Baldi, Andras
Buda, Vicas
Carli, Bruno
Cudlin, Pavel
Jones, Mike B.
Korhola, Atte
Michalski, Rajmund
Novo, Francisco
Oszlányi, Július
Santos, F.D.
Schink, Bernhard
Shepherd, John
Vet, Louise
Walloe, Lars
Wijkman, Anders
description In recent years, the production of pellets derived from forestry biomass to replace coal for electricity generation has been increasing, with over 10 million tonnes traded internationally—primarily between United States and Europe but with an increasing trend to Asia. Critical to this trade is the classification of woody biomass as ‘renewable energy’ and thus eligible for public subsidies. However, much scientific study on the net effect of this trend suggests that it is having the opposite effect to that expected of renewable energy, by increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide for substantial periods of time. This review, based on recent work by Europe's Academies of Science, finds that current policies are failing to recognize that removing forest carbon stocks for bioenergy leads to an initial increase in emissions. Moreover, the periods during which atmospheric CO2 levels are raised before forest regrowth can reabsorb the excess emissions are incompatible with the urgency of reducing emissions to comply with the objectives enshrined in the Paris Agreement. We consider how current policy might be reformed to reduce negative impacts on climate and argue for a more realistic science-based assessment of the potential of forest bioenergy in substituting for fossil fuels. The length of time atmospheric concentrations of CO2 increase is highly dependent on the feedstocks and we argue for regulations to explicitly require these to be sources with short payback periods. Furthermore, we describe the current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change accounting rules which allow imported biomass to be treated as zero emissions at the point of combustion and urge their revision to remove the risk of these providing incentives to import biomass with negative climate impacts. Reforms such as these would allow the industry to evolve to methods and scales which are more compatible with the basic purpose for which it was designed.
publishDate 2019
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2019-08
2019-08-01T00:00:00Z
2024-01-26T19:07:57Z
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10451/62268
url http://hdl.handle.net/10451/62268
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Norton, M., Báldi, A., Buda, V., Carli, B., Cudlín, P., Jones, M. B., Korhola, A., Michalski, R., Novo, F., Oszlányi, J., Santos, F. D., Schink, B., Shepherd, J. G., Vet, L. E. M., Walløe, L., & Wijkman, A. (2019). Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy. Gcb Bioenergy, 11(11), 1256–1263. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12643
10.1111/gcbb.12643
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
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collection Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
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