European Parliament confirms great importance of biomass energy

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The European Parliament confirmed in its plenary on the 17th of January 2018 the strategy adopted by the ENVI committee (European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety), and added that ensuring the sustainability of solid bioenergy in the next decade is very important and should be treated adequately.

Not only the European Parliament confirmed the approach of the Commission, but it also improved it as to guarantee full guarantee sustainability of bioenergy consumed in the EU for the period 2021-2030, The European Biomass Association (AEBIOM) reported. 

This strategy is set to ensure that the wood biomass will contribute to CO2 emissions savings, in comparison to fossil fuels, and that it comes from sustainably managed forests, thanks to the risk assessment process.

“This approach will allow solid biomass to keep playing a key role in the European energy transition while providing coherent and realistic sustainability safeguards. Regardless, the bioenergy sector will have to remain cautious in trilogue on critical attempts such as cascading principle,” confirmed Jean-Marc Jossart, AEBIOM Secretary-General.

Next, the draft will go to vote in the Council of Europe. The European Parliament's approach is generally in line with the position of the Council and the Commission. AEBIOM is now confident that a smooth and coherent trilogue process will take place on this specific bioenergy sustainability act.

In the run-up to the vote, there had been attacks on the energetic use of biomass. In an open letter last week, 650 scientists warned against using round wood in the first instance for energy purposes.

Shortly before Christmas, the non-governmental organization Birdlife had criticized the draft of the environmental committee, the negotiators had failed to ban the energetic use of stumps and trunks.

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