Why burning primary woody biomass is worse than fossil fuels for climate

In its current form, the EU’s renewable energy directives encourage the use of primary woody biomass from forests as an energy source. However, the directive gives a completely wrong picture of the associated greenhouse gas emissions, write a group of academics.

Klaus Josef Hennenberg and Hannes Böttcher are researchers at the Oeko-Institut in Berlin. Sampo Soimakallio is a researcher at the Finnish Environmental Institute, Helsinki. Edward Robinson is a consultant at Economy, Land and Climate Insight, London.