Stop burning trees to make energy, say 650 scientists before Cop15 biodiversity summit

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/05/stop-burning-trees-scientists-world-leaders-cop15-age-of-extinction-aoe

By Phoebe Weston, The Guardian. 

Excerpt: More than 650 scientists are urging world leaders to stop burning trees to make energy because it destroys valuable habitats for wildlife. ...they say countries urgently need to stop using forest bioenergy to create heat and electricity as it undermines international climate and nature targets. Instead, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar should be used, they say. ...Bioenergy has “wrongly been deemed ‘carbon neutral’” and many countries are increasingly relying on forest biomass to meet net zero goals, according to the letter, addressed to world leaders. ...By 2030, bioenergy is expected to account for a third of “low-carbon” energy, according to a report by the International Energy Agency. ...Burning wood for electricity is also inefficient, releasing comparatively more carbon into the atmosphere than gas or coal. Additional energy is used to harvest and transport the wood. Experts have been warning for years about the climate impacts of bioenergy, but now they are also finding out that it has dire risks for nature too, with many cases of protected forests being affected. Canada, Estonia and the US are the largest providers of wood for biomass.... 

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