Statement: New EU Biomass Policy Fails to Protect Southern Forests and Communities

Dogwood Alliance Statement on the European Union Renewable Energy Directive III: March 30, 2023: This morning, EU negotiations were finalized for the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). They chose to reject calls from the EU Parliament to phase out biomass as a renewable fuel. There were some small improvements to the policy, but, unfortunately, they will […]

Burning Forests also Burns through Cash

A Costly Mistake: New NRDC report shows how much Europe funds destruction of Southern forests for biomass Many will say fighting climate change is expensive. Calculating the cost of inaction, though, makes it obvious that the investment in climate mitigation (reducing our greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation (making our communities more resilient to climate impacts […]

Subsidies per unit of Bioenergy Generated

Stop Thinking of Europe as Climate Leaders

In January of this year, the European Union Parliament’s vote on the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) failed forests by neglecting to rule out the burning of stumps and stemwood for bioenergy. The final vote is in: sadly, the European Union failed to Stand for Forests and decided to keep incentivizing the widespread burning of […]

EU Bioenergy Policy Fails but Sparks Global Movement for Forest Protection

On January 17th, the European Union Parliament voted on the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) which will guide policy for reductions in carbon emissions and investments in renewable energy from 2020 onward. For those of you who’ve taken action or followed our efforts and those of our partners, you know that the outcome of this […]

Southern Communities Demand Change from the EU

On the evening of October 23rd, the European Union Parliament’s Environmental Committee met to vote on the Renewable Energy Directive. When it came time to determine the future of subsidies for the continued burning of whole trees for energy, members of European Parliament sided with the biomass industry and ignored the conservation community, science, and, […]