Debate article brought to the Alting on 8 June 2020 by Kåre Press-Kristensen and Annika Lund Gade, senior advisor and project worker from the Green Transition Denmark

It is a good reason to explain why the Green Transition Denmark and an ever-increasing number of NGOs and scientists on a global level believe that our current burning of biomass is problematic and must be replaced by environmentally and climate-friendly alternatives.

We have set 2040 as a realistic target for phasing out wood-based biomass in Danish electricity and heat production. It is a goal that we stand by and which is necessary for the green conversion of energy production.

Climate change is caused primarily by the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. It is therefore about reducing the CO2 concentration as quickly as possible, if we are to avoid dangerous irreversible climate change and the loss of, among other things, the globe's species-rich coral reefs. That is why the Paris Agreement has been concluded.

When we talk about wood, sooner or later the carbon in the wood will end up in the atmosphere in the form of CO2. This can either happen very slowly by the tree being allowed to lie in the forest as a CO2 store and decompose, while it serves as a home for animals or fungi, among other things, thereby also increasing biodiversity. Or it can be done instantly by burning the wood.

The way to reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and increase biodiversity is of course to leave the wood in the forest rather than burn it, if the alternative to burning is the production of electricity and heat via environmentally and climate-friendly alternatives such as wind energy, heat pumps and geothermal.

The development of alternatives will proceed quickly

In the Green Transition Denmark, we are convinced that the development of good alternatives to thermal energy production will go even faster in the next 20 years. 

Better heat pumps and geothermal energy, energy renovation of the housing stock, further energy efficiency in the business world, much more solar and wind energy as well as more offshore platforms with continued greater capacity combined with strategic collective and private heat and battery storage, so that selected units can be decoupled.

The development will make it possible to cover our electricity and heat production without burning fossil fuels and wood, so that we avoid the associated climate and environmental problems.

Whether the above is supplemented with the burning of sawdust from timber production, certain categories of waste or biomass with a short CO2 cycle such as straw and branch clippings from gardens and parks depends on whether these can provide a higher value when used for biogas or fuel production. 

Denmark imports 95 of the wood pellets. If all other countries introduced a similar energy policy, it would immediately lead to violent exploitation of the world's forests. This alone shows that our burning of wood-based biomass is not sustainable.

Denmark imports the most wood pellets from Latvia (25 percent), which ranks very poorly in the corruption index, and where there is therefore uncertainty about the origin of the wood pellets.

Then comes wood pellet imports from the USA (20 percent), which has withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol and currently seems to be indifferent to climate and the environment. Only 20 percent of the wood pellets come from forests in the Nordic countries and Germany, with a focus on the environment, climate and nature. 

Send a clear investment signal

We agree with the energy and forestry industry that biomass is a necessary transitional fuel, but it must be limited as much as possible.

We therefore recommend that the alternatives are prioritized and phased in systematically in line with technological development towards 2040, at the same time that the wood-based biomass is phased out and, for example, thinning wood is left in the forests as a carbon store – unless it can be used in building materials, furniture and the like.

But in order to promote this transition, there is a need to make environmentally and climate-friendly alternatives to wood burning attractive and to send a clear investment signal.

We therefore recommend taxes on biomass for electricity and heat production. This should be supplemented by a requirement that biomass must originate from forestry in countries that can document that forestry causes the least possible damage to nature and the climate. 

The fees must be supplemented with other regulation, so that we avoid the power plants going back to fossil fuels, and the goal is of course a gradual transition to CO2-neutral energy sources. Banning fossil fuels in electricity and heat production could be a solution.

The conversion does not reduce employment

It is also important that, in parallel, much higher taxes are introduced on the burning of biomass in, among other things, private wood-burning stoves, boilers and straw stoves, as private burning both burdens the climate and is at the same time one of our biggest sources of health-damaging air pollution.

We are against taxes only on biomass for collective works, as it will further promote private burning, which is the most health-damaging source of pollution.

We agree that wood from forestry operations should be used for building materials and products with a long lifespan and thereby serve as CO2 storage to a much greater extent than is the case today. Thereby, several CO2-heavy building materials can be replaced at the same time.

We must convert much more agricultural land into natural forests without forestry, where the purpose is increased biodiversity, groundwater protection, recreational purposes and, not least, CO2 uptake and storage.

The changeover will not reduce employment, but will, on the contrary, promote it. Just think of all the jobs that are created when the homes have to be energy renovated and when renewable energy systems have to be installed and maintained. This alone will make an enormous contribution to the green workplaces. 

The sooner we decide to gradually phase out wood-based biomass and begin the green transition to environmentally sound CO2-neutral energy sources, the smoother and cheaper the transition will be.