Today we are facing a climate and biodiversity crisis. Our use of wood-based biomass is of great importance to how we ensure the reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as well as the protection of endangered species that inhabit our forests and scrub.

The crisis is so acute that significantly increased carbon storage in forests and wood products as well as better nature protection is absolutely necessary.

We should therefore increase both the areas for production forest and untouched forest on selected agricultural areas, so that the loss of agricultural production is minimized while at the same time the protection of the Danish wetlands is maximized.

The biomass that we take out of the production forests should, to a greater extent than today, function as carbon stores in products with a considerable lifespan. Non-usable residues should be mulched for the benefit of the soil.

Wood-based biomass should only be used for energy purposes where it displaces fossil energy and where other renewable alternatives are not viable.

Denmark's use of biomass for electricity and heat production has contributed to the phasing out of coal and gas, which is positive. It has today reached a level where we are heavily dependent on imports, and thus seize large areas of forest outside the country's borders. We think that should be changed.

We should therefore aim for a phasing out of biomass in electricity and heat production towards 2040. This position paper (which can be seen for download, below) is based on that. The paper is divided into two parts:
1. Central recommendations regarding promoting the sustainable use of wood-based biomass.
2. Our principles and considerations underlying the recommendations.