Attendees at the Bioenergy Australia conference today were warned by Markets For Change to be aware that native forest-based bioenergy is not carbon neutral and to take care to distinguish native forest feedstock from more environmentally acceptable sources.
“The carbon dense native forests of south-eastern Australia should not be on the chopping block for bioenergy and environment groups are campaigning for the recent inclusion of this feedstock into the Renewable Energy Target by the Abbott government to be reversed,” Peg Putt, CEO of Markets For Change told the Bioenergy Australia conference in Launceston today.
“Both Labor and the Greens opposed making native forest biomass eligible because of the adverse impacts on large natural forest carbon stocks and on biodiversity, so we expect that the current misguided policy will not stick in the long term.”
“Far from being carbon neutral, the burning of native forest residues for energy emits a large carbon pulse to the atmosphere whilst also enabling broadscale industrial clearfelling in the same way as the woodchip industry.”
“It’s certainly not clean or green.”
”The important thing is to be aware of the source of bioenergy feedstock and the environmental impacts of its production. All forms of bioenergy are not created equal in terms of their benefit or detriment.”
“It takes decades at least and frequently takes centuries for a clearfelled forest to grow back, well beyond the time frame in which we need to turn around human induced climate change, yet until the forest has recovered we are in carbon deficit. The climate impact is bad, not good,” Ms Putt said.
Peg Putt, CEO of Markets For Change
