Well over half of Denmark's renewable energy comes from biomass – especially imported wood pellets, which in many cases are produced from whole tree trunks.  

There are many problems associated with using wood-based biomass to heat our houses. Especially the private heating units are associated with a lot of air pollution, even for the very latest and "environmentally friendly" models.

In addition to air pollution, biomass burning is responsible for large greenhouse gas emissions, which, in connection with biomass imports, are often not correctly accounted for in any climate accounting. And the forestry itself can have major consequences for the biodiversity in the forests.

In Denmark, biomass burning has very special advantageous conditions, i.a. are they free of taxes. We are working to get these conditions changed so that biomass is at least on an equal footing with the alternative renewable heat and energy sources.

There are really good alternatives. First of all, better insulation of buildings. Heat pumps can be installed in private homes. And on the large district heating systems, you can e.g. use large heat pumps with heat sources such as geothermal heat, waste heat, waste water and sea water combined with solar heat and large heat storage.

In the future, we must use the scarce biomass resources for e.g. advanced fuels for heavy traffic (planes, ships, trucks) and already today for several building materials that can replace concrete and bricks and serve as long-term CO₂-storage in buildings.

We are working to ensure that the last three large coal-fired cogeneration plants in Esbjerg, Odense and Aalborg avoid biomass as far as possible in favor of the alternatives, so that it can inspire other plants and thereby help stop Denmark's unsustainable dependence on burning millions of tons of valuable forest of each year. And be biomass-free by 2040.

Read even more in our position paper on biomass, which can be downloaded at the bottom of the page, or explore in our debate post on biomass.

Period: 2019-2023

Financing: The project is financed by the European Climate Foundation