The Coalition Government can’t resist the logging industry, subsidising the destruction of forests as “carbon neutral” at the expense of pesky wind, solar or other annoying competitors, writes Frances Pike. SUBSTITUTING wood biomass, burning it with coal and calling it “renewable energy”, just because trees regrow, doesn’t make it carbon neutral. Instantly, the combustion emits …
An independent scientific assessment into the conservation value of Victoria’s most-loved tall forests reveals almost half are unprotected and open to logging. The report debunks industry myths that more than 90% of these forests are somehow protected, they are not. The report reveals that, based on tenure alone, the forest industry has access to at …
Matt Ruchel, member of the Forest Industry Task Force and our executive director, explains why sawmills and the pulp and paper industry don’t understand how forests work. Forests are living ecosystems, not magic puddings, and cannot supply something that doesn’t exist. The recent declaration by VicForests, the state government’s logging agency, that there is insufficient …
LIKE politician Danny O’Brien, I’m angry about the Australian Sustainable Hardwoods sawmill debacle. Very angry. This disaster should have been avoided. Successive governments, of all persuasions, have badly mismanaged timber resources. A sawmill company is now gaming the system, demanding access to timber it knows is not there. Sawmill workers will be losers. But so …
“This is a case study that provides evidence to support complementarity in the use of space,” explained researcher Laura Williams. Feb. 28 (UPI) — Previous studies showed more diverse tree stands to be healthier and more productive than monoculture forests, but scientists didn’t know why. New research suggests tree diversity lends a forest adaptability, allowing …
Findings: Subsidized wood power plants actually emit more carbon than burning coal An important new report issued overnight in London has demolished the assumption that forest biomass should be considered a carbon-neutral source of energy. This has major implications for climate policy in Australia, where native forest biomass energy was controversially included into the Renewable …
Subsidies should end for many types of biomass, a new Chatham House report argues, because they are failing to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. The report adds that policymakers should tighten up accounting rules to ensure the full extent of biomass emissions are included. The analysis outlines how policies intended to boost the use of …
Using wood pellets to generate low-carbon electricity is a flawed policy that is speeding up not slowing down climate warming. That’s according to a new study which says wood is not carbon neutral and emissions from pellets are higher than coal. Subsidies for biomass should be immediately reviewed, the author says. But the industry rejected …
Countries in the EU, including the UK, are throwing away money by subsidising the burning of wood for energy, according to an independent report. While burning some forms of wood waste can indeed reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in practice the growing use of wood energy in the EU is increasing rather than reducing emissions, the …
New Zealand’s forests and other land areas may be absorbing up to 60% more carbon dioxide than has been calculated, with much of this uptake likely occurring in native forests, NIWA scientists have discovered. New research led by NIWA atmospheric scientists Drs Kay Steinkamp and Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, indicates that New Zealand’s forests absorb much more …
