Heading for a repeat of past mistakes on biofuels? By Jori Sihvonen, Clean Fuels Officer at Transport & Environment. People who have heard of the renewable energy directive (RED) often associate it with the overall renewables obligation for all sectors – the 20% target until 2020. On Tuesday 28th of
Europe’s climate strategy of burning wood for energy isn’t working By Linde Zuidema, Bioenergy campaigner at FERN. Opposition to the use of forest biomass for energy generation is going mainstream, writes Linde Zuidema, as evidence builds that wood is being burnt in large scale inefficient coal-fired power stations. Every day resistance is growing to the
Project for a large-scale biomass plant in Belgium cancelled By Arnaud Collignon, Energy officer at Fédération Inter-Environnement Wallonie. The project, aimed at converting an old Belgian coal power plant into a large-scale biomass power plant, definitely now seems to be a thing of the past. Wallonia, Belgium’s French-speaking region, just decided to
Forests and habitats in exchange for energy? By Zeynep Karasin, Media relations officer at BirdLife Europe & Central Asia. BirdLife Europe and Central Asia’s statement on the Renewable Energy Directive vote in the European Parliament’s environmental committee on the evening of the 23 October 2017: Today’s vote in the Parliament confirms the
Something Nasty in the Woodshed By Phil MacDonald, Head of Comms at Sandbag. With a just a sprinkling of biomass, companies across Europe have been greenwashing their coal burning. By adding sometimes small amounts of biomass to furnaces full of coal, lignite or peat, and harvesting the ‘renewables’ subsidies this earns them,
NGOs concerned with Finland’s impact on EU’s climate ambition and forests write the Finnish Government This open letter from 18 civil society organisations was sent to the Finish Minister of the Environment, Energy and Housing Kimmo Tiilikainen and to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Leppä on 20 October
Swedish NGOs urge European Parliament to radically improve the Renewable Energy Directive By Sini Eräjää, EU bioenergy policy officer at BirdLife Europe & Central Asia. In an open letter, Swedish environmental NGOs urge Members of the European Parliament to account for the full emissions and environmental impacts of biofuels in the Renewable
Around half of EU production of crop biodiesel is based on imports, not crops grown by EU farmers – new analysis By Nico Muzi, Director of Communications at Transport & Environment. An analysis of the European Commission’s agriculture data shows that 53% of feedstocks (vegetable oils mainly from rapeseed, palm and
On Monday 23rd the first European Parliament vote will take place on one of the EU’s corner stone policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – the Renewable Energy Directive.