By Sini Er\u00e4j\u00e4\u00e4, Policy Officer EU Bioenergy,\u00a0Birdlife Europe<\/a> and the European Environmental Bureau<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I never\u00a0would have thought that in the early days of the EU\u2019s efforts to increase renewable energy use that working in this field would take me to\u00a0forests along the southern US coast. What do European renewable energy policies have to do with US forests? Turns out a good deal in the case of bioenergy, which is Europe\u2019s biggest source of renewable energy. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n As new power and heating plants are aiming to increase their use of renewable energy, many are turning to the use of biomass, mostly wood, for energy. With support\u00a0from EU renewable energy policies and subsidies, new plants are being built while\u00a0old ones are being converted to use other fuels. As a result, a whole new industry supplying wood pellets to Europe has emerged in the forest rich states of the southern US including North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.<\/p>\n The harmful environmental impacts of this new industry can be seen and felt widely in communities around pellet manufacturing plants. American NGOs have already sounded the alarm<\/a> and widely documented impacts the pellet industry is having on forest ecosystems as well as the climate.<\/p>\n Americans are putting together measures and legislation to cut GHG emissions nationally and move towards renewable energies. A landmark piece of policy is\u00a0President Obama’s Clean Power Plan which aims to cut emissions from power plants by 32% between 2005 and 2020. As part of this policy, the Environmental Protection Agency and White House recognize<\/a> that bioenergy use can result in high GHG emissions, but how to limit these emissions is still on the table.<\/p>\n As Europeans, we have a story to tell and lessons we can share about bioenergy. In Europe, unconstrained use and support for bioenergy has ensured that it plays a dominant role in its\u00a0renewable energy mix. But emerging science on GHG emissions related to bioenergy use are disturbing, suggesting that in some cases we may have altogether failed.<\/p>\n Public support for something which doesn\u2019t in the end deliver expected climate and environmental goals is something we cannot afford in Europe or\u00a0the US.\u00a0 The EU is in the process of re-evaluating its approach to bioenergy but after a decade of misguided policies, retroactive changes are never easy. The US can learn from this so America\u00a0has a better chance of\u00a0setting policies on the right track\u00a0from the start.<\/p>\n Given all of the above, it seems less odd that I find myself in the middle of Southern US forests even if my\u00a0work is about European bioenergy policies. Stay tuned for more!<\/p>\n This post is the first of a series of posts following Sini Er\u00e4j\u00e4\u00e4, BirdLife Europe\u2019s and the European Environmental Bureau\u2019s bioenergy policy officer, during her trip to the US east coast to witness firsthand the impacts of Europe\u2019s bioenergy policies on US forests and share lessons learned in Europe.<\/em><\/p>\n Photo:\u00a0Sunset through the trees, Georgia (c) C.J. Peters, Flickr Creative Commons<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A story unfolding, EU energy policy and American forests By Sini Er\u00e4j\u00e4\u00e4, Policy Officer EU Bioenergy,\u00a0Birdlife Europe and the European Environmental Bureau I never\u00a0would have thought that in the early days of the EU\u2019s efforts to increase renewable energy use that working in this field would take me to\u00a0forests along<\/p>\n