Press Release: 351 lobby meetings to weaken European forest protection
PRESS RELEASE
351 lobby meetings to weaken European forest protection. And the lobby reached the White House.
Shocking. On 16 October, environmental organisation Mighty Earth revealed how 24 major companies spent two years lobbying to delay and weaken the EU’s deforestation law. After all the revelations about tropical deforestation, you would expect the Netherlands to be particularly cautious about practices that could contribute to further deforestation. But look at what is on the table in the Dutch House of Representatives on Monday, 26 October.
On 21 October, the Dutch government confirmed that the National Energy System Plan for 2040 assumes 70 petajoules of biomass for dispatchable electricity generation. If that entire amount were to consist of wood pellets, this would amount to 4.1 million tonnes per year, according to the government. To put that into perspective: that is 164,000 fully loaded trucks every year. Around 450 trucks every day, day after day. Or approximately 60 to 70 enormous bulk carriers, filled to capacity with wood pellets. And how many trees would that require? Assuming 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes per bulk carrier, that would amount to approximately 8 to 16 million trees, depending on the species and size of the trees.
And the most remarkable part?
Thanks to a new political construct, the forest biomass industry could once again become eligible for substantial government subsidies, if this government gets its way. The name? BECCS. And with it, an old biomass problem could acquire a new “green” business model. That is why The Clean Air Committee is preparing a civil lawsuit against the Dutch State. Because who is actually checking where this wood comes from, which forests are being destroyed, and whether there is any genuine climate benefit at all? “Subsidies must not become a cover for ecological vandalism.”
Our call to the Dutch House of Representatives: ask the questions that matter tomorrow. Where will these millions of tonnes of forest biomass come from? Who will independently verify its origin? What will this actually mean for our forests, biodiversity and climate? And why should society and nature once again be left to foot the bill as long as this evidence is missing? A tonne of CO₂ captured cannot bring a lost forest back.