Biomass might not be sexy or controversial, or even high in the public profile like fracking or wind turbines. Even among my friends in the climate  and energy movement it’s a reasonably untold story. But bioenergy could be providing one third of the UK’s renewable energy by 2020 under Government plans. And the worst thing is that much of this energy could be more polluting than fossil fuels. That’s important, particularly for young people who will deal with the effects of policy choices which increase our emissions, particularly under the guise of low-carbon technology.

The sun needs to set on Government support for high-carbon biomass from whole trees; photo credit: Matt Adam Williams, 2013

The UK Government has just published its new sustainability criteria for biomass energy – heat and electricity generated from wastes and organic materials. These criteria are meant to ensure that biomass energy is produced in the UK without having a negative impact on the climate and wildlife.

While Government have announced a 400MW cap on new dedicated biomass power, signalling that they recognise the risks of these technologies, it’s disappointing to see that they’re not putting in place the framework to ensure that the biomass we do have is sustainable. They’re putting an overall cap on the sector, but failing to improve the sustainability of what will fall under that cap. Government have failed to listen to the recommendations of many individuals and NGOs, arguing for stronger standards. Key changes include:

1. Under the new regime, wood that is burned for energy can come from forests that meet a range of sustainability criteria, the same criteria as those used for Government wood procurement. Government has ignored advice to restrict sustainability to Forest Stewardship Council wood only – the most rigorous and sustainable standards.

2. Government has chosen to go on ignoring the majority of emissions produced by biomass – the carbon dioxide released when the tree is burned. This carbon debt is completely ignored because it is assumed that tree regrowth recaptures these emissions. However, it takes many decades for this to happen. Biomass is also more carbon dense than coal, meaning that in many cases, using wood for electricity can be more polluting than coal over the medium term (the time frame during which we need to be cutting emissions), not less.

3. Government is also going to continue to ignore indirect emissions. For example, when land on which food is grown  is converted for crops which are burned in a power station, the indirect impact of the food being grown elsewhere and carbon dioxide being released is not going to be counted. This runs counter to the current scientific wisdom and against current attempts by the European Commission to account for these emissions when it comes to a similar technology, namely biofuels used in cars.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s policy team is hereby ignoring the advice of its own science team, who are in the process of finalizing a biomass carbon calculator. This calculator, which I’ve seen in beta version, points to many forms of biomass being more polluting than conventional fossil fuels.

Under current plans and incentives, vast quantities of wood will be imported from abroad, mostly the US and Canada. This will include trunks of trees which have been converted into wood pellets – the worst offenders in carbon dioxide terms.

A biomass sector based on using the resource efficiently in combined heat and power stations, and burning only UK wood (excluding tree trunks) and wastes and residues could be sustainable and low-carbon. But current Government support is not prioritising this side of the industry.

This is a ridiculous state of affairs and DECC seem to have rushed this policy through rather than wait for the key results from their science team. It also ignores vast amounts of peer-reviewed science and reports from NGOs warning of these risks.

Our renewable and low carbon energy sources are supposed to reduce our emissions, not increase them, and should do so without harming nature and wildlife. Government expect biomass to be around 650TWh by 2020, or around one third of the UK’s renewable energy sources. This might be a small industry right now, but it is growing and Government expects, indeed wants, it to grow even more.

Future generations will pay the price for climate change caused by high-carbon biomass, sold as a low-carbon replacement to fossil fuels but actually in many cases more polluting. In a way this is morally worse than our ongoing addiction to fossil fuels – Government is wilfully choosing to pursue a policy that is supposedly low-carbon but could actually increase emissions compared to coal power.

It’s time for DECC to start being honest with itself and with us.

If you agree with me, then tell DECC what you think of this choice about the energy system we want by tweeting this at them

.@DECCgovuk new biomass sustblty standards are bad joke: high on carbon, high on dishonesty, bad news for wildlife http://bit.ly/16TB032