To avoid catastrophic climate change and biodiversity loss, climate science is warning us that humanity must stop converting forests to farmland, as this process releases carbon dioxide and destroys habitats. But while the world population, incomes and meat consumption are growing, agricultural land is expanding at an ever faster rate. Europe has contributed to this deforestation by outsourcing its supply of food and other agricultural products.
Unfortunately, the “Fit for 55” climate strategy. [paquet législatif visant à réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre d’au moins 55 %] The European Union is increasing Europe’s footprint and increasing global deforestation. For this reason, a group of scientists from across Europe is asking the European Parliament to amend the plan with sensible changes (some already approved by one of its committees).
Huge amounts of productive land
The plan aims to use a fifth of Europe’s arable land for bioenergy by 2050. Imports of fuelwood for energy generation will also quadruple, an annual volume equivalent to approximately 40% of the total annual timber harvest in Canada, the second largest timber exporter in the world.
Cutting down and burning more trees increases the amount of carbon in the atmosphere for decades or even centuries. This is true even if trees are allowed to regrow and even if wood replaces coal (the dirtiest fuel used for energy).
Burning biomass releases more carbon than burning fossil fuels, but these emissions are ignored
The central problem lies in a systemic error in silo thinking: the plan ignores the effects of bioenergy production on climate and nature. Burning biomass releases more carbon than burning fossil fuels, but these emissions are ignored. The theory is that this carbon is removed from the air as plants grow, so burning plants doesn’t add “net” carbon to the air.
But that’s a mistake, because growing crops for bioenergy is not only time-consuming, but also requires vast amounts of productive land, at the expense of food and habitat, and requires more farmland and fewer forests elsewhere in the world to sustain food production .
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