In the Media
Factbox: Biomass energy, carbon and forestry
August 09, 2012
Reuters
Forest and farmland together cover more than three quarters of EU territory, but their role in capturing and releasing carbon emissions is not fully documented.
Proposals to tighten the way emissions from agricultural and forest land are calculated will be debated over the coming months in Brussels.
Since the 1990s, the forest area in Europe has been increasing steadily. However, environmentalists say that is a short-term view and are worried biomass for energy could wipe out swathes of the world’s forests. Where forests survive, they warn old trees are replaced with saplings, which have less value as a carbon store, and the variety of planting is not maintained.
“Compared to the over-cut we have done for centuries … the balance is still that we take out wood quicker than the carbon is replenished,” said Jutta Kill, carbon trading and climate change campaigner at non-governmental organization FERN.
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Keywords: AFOLU, biomass, EU, Europe, farmland, Forest, forest cover