Race for renewables burns through Europe’s forests
Wood pellets are sold as a clean alternative to coal, but campaigners say that a subsidized bioenergy boom in Europe is accelerating the climate crisis
By Hazel Sheffield / The Guardian
Kalev Jarvik stands on a bald patch of land in the heart of Estonia’s Haanja nature reserve and remembers when he could walk straight from one side of the reserve to the other under a canopy of trees.
Jarvik has lived in the Haanja uplands in the southern county of Voru for more than 10 years. His closeness to the forest has shaped his life as a carpenter and the fortunes of the surrounding villages, with their handicraft traditions a substitute for farming on the poor arable land.
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(Bloomberg) Malaysia filed a lawsuit Friday against the European Union and members including France and Lithuania following the bloc’s plan to phase out palm-based biofuel imports.
The suit, which requests consultation through the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism, is due to the EU’s Delegated Regulation under the Renewable Energy Directive (EU RED II), which has impacted Malaysia’s palm oil industry, according to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali.
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The EU’s watershed deforestation moment?
DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this column reflect the views of the author(s), not of EURACTIV Media network. 14-01-2021
President von der Leyen’s speech is a watershed in the EU’s commitment to protect forests: this is the first time that a Commission President has spoken so extensively and in such detail about deforestation, and an unequivocal sign of the EU’s desire to be the global leader on deforestation, writes Julia Christian. [Source: EC - Audiovisual Service]
Carbon-neutrality is a fairy tale : how the race for renewables is burning Europe s forests Hazel Sheffield
Kalev Järvik stands on a bald patch of land in the heart of Estonia’s Haanja nature reserve and remembers when he could walk straight from one side of the reserve to the other under a canopy of trees.
Järvik has lived in the Haanja uplands in the southern county of Võru for more than 10 years. His closeness to the forest has shaped his life as a carpenter and the fortunes of the surrounding villages, with their handicraft traditions – a substitute for farming on the poor arable land. Upcountry, travel literature promotes the region to city dwellers, promising its ancient woodlands as a place to rest and reinvigorate the mind.
January 14, 2021 6:45 am
Farmers will receive a “fair price” for selling excess electricity they generate back into the grid, under a new scheme that is being developed.
Individuals and communities are invited to submit views on the design of a Microgeneration Support Scheme, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has announced today (Thursday, January 14).
This scheme will allow farmers, citizens, business owners and community organisations to generate their own electricity, such as from solar panels on their roofs, and receive “a fair price when they sell the excess into the grid”.
The scheme design also seeks to establish the ‘renewables self-consumer’ model of energy generation and consumption in Ireland, to support community and citizen participation in the transition to a net-zero carbon economy and to contribute to achieving the 2030 targets for renewable energy.