Europe's renewable energy directive poised to harm global forests

Timothy D Searchinger; Tim Beringer; Bjart Holtsmark; Daniel M Kammen; Eric F Lambin; Wolfgang Lucht; Peter Raven; Jean-Pascal van Ypersele

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06175-4

Europe's renewable energy directive poised to harm global forests

Nat Commun. 2018 Sep 12;9(1):3741. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06175-4.

Authors

Timothy D Searchinger¹, Tim Beringer², Bjart Holtsmark³, Daniel M Kammen⁴, Eric F Lambin^{5 6}, Wolfgang Lucht^{7 8}, Peter Raven⁹, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele⁶

Affiliations

¹ Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, New Jersey, USA. tsearchi@princeton.edu.
² Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10099, Germany.
³ Statistics Norway, Oslo, N-0131, Norway.
⁴ Energy and Resources Group, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, and Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA.
⁵ School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, 94305, California, USA.
⁶ Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
⁷ Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, 14473, Germany.
⁸ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099, 8 Berlin, Germany.
⁹ Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA.

Abstract

This comment raises concerns regarding the way in which a new European directive, aimed at reaching higher renewable energy targets, treats wood harvested directly for bioenergy use as a carbon-free fuel. The result could consume quantities of wood equal to all Europe's wood harvests, greatly increase carbon in the air for decades, and set a dangerous global example.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't