Goldsmith: real problems with biomass fuel
Environment minister admits there are questions around the burning of wood pellets for energy
THERE are “real problems” with the burning of wood pellets for energy, an environment minister admitted, after The Daily Telegraph revealed Britain will continue to burn the equivalent of 25million trees a year, despite a pledge to end forest destruction.
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park said there were “real problems which need to be addressed” with large-scale biomass, which provides around 12 per cent of UK electricity, mainly from wood pellets shipped in from the US and Europe. The industry receives green subsidies worth more than £2million a day because it is classed as renewable and carbon neutral, despite concerns from scientists and environmentalists that it is harming forests and producing carbon emissions.
Lord Goldsmith said it was right to “raise very good questions” about the future of biomass.
He added: “I don’t think those problems were properly fully understood when the infrastructure which is now there was first developed.”
The biomass industry says it only uses wood pellets in accordance with the strictest sustainability criteria. The Government this week released a “biomass strategy”, which commits it to reviewing the regulations around sustainability of the industry.
The strategy was originally expected to include plans on how much biomass the UK would use to get to net zero, but was scaled back amid growing concern over the policy.
The strategy says it will identify any gaps in its sustainability criteria, and “consider where environmental and social aspects … could be strengthened in line with the most up-to-date scientific evidence”.
Earlier this week, The Telegraph revealed a number of serious concerns about the wood going into pellet mills that supply Drax, the UK’S biggest biomass energy supplier.
Drax is converting its six coal units to burn solely biomass and intends to move into carbon capture and storage with further subsidies in the future.
The new biomass strategy also addresses concerns over air pollution from wood-burning plants.
It says: “Air quality impacts of biomass use, especially in emerging areas, need to be better understood, and mitigation measures developed to ensure we do not compromise our ability to meet statutory air quality ceilings.”
British biomass plants are one of Europe’s biggest contributors of fine particulate matter pollution PM10, say analysts, which is linked to respiratory disease, heart attacks and strokes.
European scientists have called on the UK and EU to end the classification of biomass as carbon neutral, and say the burning of wood will increase global warming for decades if not centuries.
The classification relies on the wood that is burned being replaced by new trees, but scientists argue there will be a short-term “carbon debt” while they grow that will contribute to destructive global warming in coming decades.
Lord Goldsmith spoke at the launch of a £500million government programme to protect rainforests and make sure food and consumer products do not fund destruction of forests and other environmentally damaging practices.