On Monday, March 4, a group of NGOs initiated legal proceedings with the Court of Justice of the European Union seeking to have the forest biomass provisions of the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) repealed.
The plaintiffs, from five Member States (Estonia, France, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia) and the United States, claim that the Directive, by encouraging the use of forest biomass as a renewable energy source, will lead to the devastation of forests and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
“The EU policy is based on the false and reckless assumption that the burning of forest wood is carbon neutral. However, scientists around the world [...] have warned that burning forest wood actually increases emissions compared to fossil fuels”, said Mary S. Booth, director of the Partnership for Policy Integrity, one of the NGO plaintiffs, in a statement.
NGOs argue that not only does EU policy not take into account CO2 emissions from the combustion of biofuels for heat or energy, but also that European subsidies for biomass increase the demand and thus the exploitation of forests in Europe and North America.
Therefore, through this legal action, they hope to make the burning of forest wood ineligible to meet Member States' renewable energy targets and to end EU subsidies for biomass. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - intern)