Letter from Scientists to the EU regarding Forest Biomass

I recently signed a letter related to the European Parliament's renewable energy directive which seeks to cut down trees for bioenergy. At present forest biomass used for bioenergy in the EU include residues and wastes from European producers of paper and timber products. This is fine since most of these waste materials would decompose anyway and using them to displace fossil fuels can reduce net carbon dioxide emissions. However, the directive to specifically cut down trees for bioenergy releases carbon that would otherwise be kept in forests, and may result in leakage effects, resulting in deforestation for wood in other places.

This letter has been signed by 784 scientists and was delivered in person by several top scientists to members of parliaments.

I have included the signed letter here for more information.

​Letter from Scientists to EU Parliament regarding Forest Biomass:

letter_of_scientists_european_parliament_on_use_of_forest_biomass_for_bioenergy__january_14_2018_.pdf
File Size:	656 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---

Here is a short video from Princeton University which communicates the problems related to this new directive. A blog has also been set up to spread the word on this issue #empowerplants