Soaring demand for woody fuel has led to the construction of more than two dozen pellet factories in the Southeast and special port. European officials promote the trade as part of the fight against climate change. But that claim is increasingly coming under challenge.
Recent science shows that many forms of biomass — especially from forests — produce higher carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels. In particular, a growing body of peer-reviewed, scientific studies shows that burning wood from whole trees in power plants to produce electricity can increase carbon emissions relative to fossil fuels for many decades — anywhere from 35 to 100 years.
The GreenBiz media platform has really become an important gathering spot for the corporate responsibility community and helps to shape the trends and opportunities in the sustainable business space. My joint presentation with Deborah Baker the Vice President of Sustainable Forestry at Georgia-Pacific (GP) was part of a joint session on “Cultivating Impactful Corporate-NGO Partnerships” . We shared our work mapping Endangered Forests across GP’s wood procurement system pursuant to our ground-breaking Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reached back in 2010.
just 15 months after our first delegation to Europe, our second trip across the pond proves that our message got through. Today, decision makers are clear that the use of our forests for fuel is an area of big concern. We no longer need to debate whether it is just waste wood or residuals; they all understand that the wood pellet industry and utilities are using whole trees.
