Biomass
Biomass is plant material and animal waste used as a source of fuel. According to the International Energy Association (IEA)(1), around 2.5 billion people relied on biomass for cooking in the year 2015.
Oddly, CO2 emissions produced from biomass are not included in CO2 emissions totals. The following quote comes from the IEA, “countries in Africa, using large quantities of fuel wood (considered as non-emitting) show the lowest levels of emissions” (2). CO2 emissions from Biomass are identical to CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Biomass contributes to global warming in the same exact way as fossil fuels do.
The Rationale to Exclude Wood from CO2 Emissions
Wood produces 25% more CO2 emissions than coal and more than twice as much as natural gas. It is not-controversial to state that wood is a significant contributor of CO2. However, the Paris Accord does not include wood burning as a source of CO2 emissions.
Consequently, the Parris Accord is sending out a clear messages about the use of biomass and wood. Their omission from the list encourages the use of wood and significantly increases the incentive for cutting down forests. This outcome is completely logical since the use of wood as an energy source is considered to have zero carbon emissions.
The rationale to exclude wood is based on the carbon cycle. Left underground, fossil fuels take millions of years to turn into CO2. However, trees have a much shorter timeframe to live and when they die and decompose, they release carbon (CO2) back into the air. The carbon cycle for trees is typically hundreds of years as opposed to fossil fuels which will take millions of years to decompose since they are underground.
A different rationale to exclude CO2 emissions from wood is based on the life of the tree. A tree that has been growing for 50 years has absorbed a lot of CO2. The CO2 emitted when used for fuel just zeros out the CO2 absorbed during the tree’s lifetime, making it carbon neutral. This is in contrast to fossil fuels which have been in the ground and have not absorbed any CO2.
Breakdown of Numbers
The countries and amount of people using biomass are as follows;
- India – 796 million
- Sub-Saharan Africa – 786 million
- China – 456 million
- Indonesia – 67 million
- Latin America – 58 million
As mentioned above, about 2.5 billion people use biomass for cooking. This represents about a third of the world’s population and is a significant number.
As discussed, the Paris Accord does not include biomass emissions of CO2 as CO2 emissions. As a consequence, the statistics of total emissions by country as well as CO2 per capita are misleading. The rationale behind not including biomass in CO2 emissions totals is weak. The urgency to reduce CO2 emissions is here. If CO2 emissions can be reduced and their effects delayed by 25 years, 50 years or hundreds of years, it is worth pursuing.
Indoor Air Pollution
In addition to CO2 emissions, biomass is a significant contributor to indoor air pollution. Biomass, when burned indoors, releases dangerous chemicals into the air. This includes, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds. These chemicals can cause serious health issues for the 2.5 billion people using biomass for fuel.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “each year, close to 4 million people die prematurely from illness attributable to household air pollution from inefficient cooking practices using polluting stoves paired with solid fuels and kerosene” (3). (Note that these numbers include kerosene, a fossil fuel).
WHO attributes 4 million deaths each year to inefficient cooking practices using polluting stoves. By excluding biomass from CO2 emissions totals, the current system is rewarding biomass usage, directly affecting the 2.5 billion people with the lowest standard of living.
In a global warming meeting held on January 21, 2021, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “extreme weather and climate-related hazards have also killed more than 410,000 people in the past decade (4)”. The 4 million deaths per year from biomass cooking is significantly more than the deaths caused by global warming. The deaths total 40 million over a decade and represent 98 times more deaths than those caused by global warming.
Correct Reward System for CO2 Emissions
The decision to not include biomass is a serious hindrance in trying to solve the CO2 problem. It is ignoring a major contributor to CO2 emissions. Furthermore, only an expert in the details of the Paris Accord can know that biomass emissions are not included in the totals. As a result, it influences strategies for the best resource allocation. How can we maintain the lowest possible CO2 levels? Reporting of CO2 emissions must be transparent and mirror reality. The current reporting influences the strategies and efforts of many countries. In order to obtain the best outcome to reduce CO2 emissions, the scorecard for global warming, the CO2 numbers must properly reflect reality.
Currently, Europe is moving towards carbon-neutral solutions. This includes converting power plants that burn coal to wood-burning plants. Wood produces about 25 % more CO2 emissions than coal and 135% more than natural gas. However, the scorecard for CO2 emissions from wood is zero, greatly reducing their CO2 emissions according to the Paris Accord.
Proof supporting biomass reward system
According to the Yale School of Environment, “since 2009, the 28 nations of the European Union have embarked on a dramatic switch to generating power from renewable energy. While most of the good-news headlines have been about the rise of wind and solar, much of the new “green” power has actually come from burning wood in converted coal power stations. (5)”
Furthermore, according to Yale Environment 360 , “mature, native hardwood forests in places like North Carolina, Virginia, and along the Gulf Coast are being clear-cut, with whole trees and other large-diameter wood then trucked to processing mills run by Enviva, the world’s largest wood pellet producer. These pellets, the report said, are then being shipped to power plants such as Drax Power Station in the United Kingdom, Ørsted biomass facilities in Denmark, and increasingly to generating stations in Japan. Forests in the U.S. Southeast are being logged at four times the rate as those in the Amazon, according to the UN’s biodiversity report released last month.”(6)
Consequences of Biomass Policies
There are many disturbing outcomes that come from classifying biomass as zero emissions. The policy is directly responsible for the destruction (clear cutting) of forests in the United States. Afterward, these forests essentially disappear. I have personally seen forests in several states and they are wastelands. After the trees are removed, the remaining brush is gathered together and set on fire. I have witnessed five of these fires. Disappointedly, I saw no evidence that the forests are being replanted.
After the wood is harvested, it is manufactured into pellets and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean as a replacement for coal. Europe is able to brag that its emissions are going down, when in fact they are increasing. It is almost impossible to understand these facts when reading the Paris Accord. Biomass usage is a critical component of the strategy of many countries to reach carbon neutrality.
The Urgency in Reducing CO2 emissions
On January 21, 2021, New Europe reports John Kerry, in his role as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, saying ”three years ago, scientists gave us a stark warning. They said we have 12 years to avoid the worst consequences of climate change”. He added, ”we have nine years left, and I regret my country has been absent for three of those years.” (7) John Kerry, the leading advocate on climate change in the US, believes that we need to act by 2030, nine years from 2021. This is an urgent situation. Actions today matter. It does not make sense that a wood power plant is considered zero emissions. Wood produces about 25% more CO2 emissions than coal and 135% more than natural gas. Moreover, it eliminates a source of CO2 absorption, the trees.
Since global warming represents an urgent “today” problem, biomass usage speeds up global warming by decades. Consequently, the rationale to exclude biomass makes no sense. CO2 emissions from all human activities need to be considered.
The standard of living in China, India, and Sub-Saharan Africa will increase in the years ahead and coal and natural gas will be part of the reason why. Factually, CO2 emissions for cooking will decrease as this change takes place. The CO2 emission reduction from removing biomass is a reality, although not shown.
Finally, biomass contributes to 4 million deaths a year. Society can unquestionably do better to help with this problem. The advocates of global warming do not offer the most appropriate solutions as the deaths due to global warming are their primary concern.
Bibliography
1. “CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion.” International Energy Administration, 2021, http://energyatlas.iea.org/#!/tellmap/1378539487
2. “CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion. “International Energy Administration, 2021, http://energyatlas.iea.org/#!/tellmap/1378539487
3. “Household Air Pollution and Health.” World Health Organization, 8 May 2018, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health
4. “Climate Adaptation Summit: Invest in early warnings and early action.” World Meteorological Society, 26 January 2021, https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/climate-adaptation-summit-invest-early-warnings-and-early-action
5. “Carbon Loophole: Why is Wood Burning Counted as Green Energy?” YaleEnvironment360 Published at the Yale School of Environment. 19 December 2017, https://e360.yale.edu/features/carbon-loophole-why-is-wood-burning-counted-as-green-energy
6. “U.S. Forests Are Being Clear-Cut to Supply Biomass Energy Industry, Report Finds.” YaleEnvironment360 Published at the Yale School of Environment, 18 June 2019, https://e360.yale.edu/digest/u-s-forests-are-being-devastated-to-supply-biomass-energy-industry-report-finds#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20report%2C%20mature,world%27s%20largest%20wood%20pellet%20producer.
7. New Europe online KG. “US Takes Charge on climate” New Europe, 29 January 2021, https://www.neweurope.eu/article/us-takes-charge-on-climate/