Romania – Up in Flames By guest author Fred Pearce, author and journalist – article from Fern’s report ‘Up in Flames’ Romania’s forests are being over-exploited to supply demand for biomass both within the country and across Europe. While the logging business remains dominated by the state company Romsilva, its markets are increasingly
Threatened Forests – interview with Director Benoît Grimont By Lisa Benedetti, BirdLife Europe Director Benoît Grimont gets personal about his experiences filming ‘Threatened Forests’, a documentary which charts the recent arrival of biomass power in France and how this industry treats wood as a seemingly endless supply of ‘renewable’ energy.
10 reasons why bioenergy is NOT carbon neutral, says IPCC author William Moomaw William Moomaw1, respected professor and lead IPCC author, wants to set the record straight. He spoke at the European Parliament last week to explain why bioenergy is not automatically carbon neutral and we are proud to present his
Gardanne, France – How biomass burning wrecks Europe’s forests By guest author Fred Pearce, author and journalist – article from Fern’s report ‘Up in Flames’ Gardanne, near Marseilles in southern France, is a small town with a large power station. The Centrale Thermique de Provence has the tallest chimney in France. At 300
Dear Vice President Timmermans By guest author Adam Macon, Dogwood Alliance, USA Across the United States a growing movement to protect Southern US forests has been gaining attention in Europe. Driven by the well intentioned but unsustainable EU policies towards bioenergy, forests of the Southern US are being clearcut, manufactured into
Slovakia – Up in Flames By guest author Fred Pearce, author and journalist – article from Fern’s report ‘Up in Flames’ He said he was a forest ranger. But he leaped out of an unmarked car and showed no ID before shouting at us and waving a heavy stick menacingly in our faces.
EU power plants are hungry for U.S. forests Climate Central, an American watchdog, is drawing attention to one of Europe’s most deceptive illusions on climate change. One which arises from a rather convenient legal loophole that treats energy generated from burning wood as ‘carbon neutral’. As Climate Central explains in
Stealing Romania’s last forests – for energy? By Lisa Benedetti, BirdLife Europe Undercover investigators from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) have caught Holzindustrie Schweighofer red handed. The Austrian timber and wood processing company have been violating Romanian law; accepting offers to buy illegally cut timber, offering bonuses to those harvesting
Waste wood – to burn or not to burn? By Lisa Benedetti, BirdLife Europe Forests fuel most of Europe’s bioenergy demands. But when it comes to the use of wood as a material versus as an energy source, political and market interests can collide. This is happening in Austria, where
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