Protecting Australia’s forests from biomass burning

Reinstate the exclusion of native forest biomass as a renewable source of energy.

We are calling on Labor to reverse the Abbott-era regulation that allows native forest biomass to be included as a source of renewable energy. Australia’s forests are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, habitat for critically endangered and threatened species such as koalas and Swift parrots.

These forests need urgent protection – not burning for electricity. Take action today for our forests and wildlife – use our letter template, or write your own, and demand that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Energy and Climate Change Chris Bowen restore the Gillard government’s regulation excluding native forest biomass as a source of renewable energy.

Write your letter today

The Federal Government is considering whether native forest biomass should be excluded as a source of renewable energy under the Renewable Energy Act. Make your voice heard.

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To whom it may concern,

Any form of native forest wood, including so called wood waste, must be prohibited as a source of renewable energy.

As Prime Minister Albanese said in 2015 “Native forest wood waste is neither clean nor renewable”. A new report from Griffith University confirms this view.

Protecting and restoring our native forests is essential if we want to achieve our climate targets and protect the wildlife dependent on them.

Logging and burning native forests emits large quantities of greenhouse gas. ‘Wood waste’ is a misnomer, as whole trees can be burnt. Native forest biomass threatens to become the new woodchipping in Australia – masquerading as using the waste and becoming the major driver of logging.

Native forest biomass must be removed as an eligible fuel source under the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 and electricity generated by burning wood from native forests must be prohibited from being eligible for Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs) under the Renewable Energy Target (RET).

Burning native forest biomass is inconsistent with the objects of the REE Act in that it produces more emissions than coal per equivalent amount of energy generated and thus does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector or make a genuine contribution to the achievement of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

Logging native forests has no social licence. A 2018 study commissioned by the Forest Wood and Products Australia found that 65% of rural based respondents found native forest logging unacceptable, with only 17% of those in the bush supporting logging in native forests. As the climate and biodiversity crises worsen, more and more people want to see our native forests protected for biodiversity and their ecosystem services rather than logged for what are increasingly low-value commodity products such as pulp and potentially biomass for combustion.

According to the consultation paper there are no LGCs (Large Generation Certificates) from native forest biomass, so changing the regulation will have no impact on any current energy provider. Therefore, remove native forests now and compensation is a negligible issue.

The former Labor Government in 2013 stated in response to the Climate Change Authority’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) Review that “Wood waste from native forests was removed from the RET as an eligible renewable energy source in 2011. This amendment was made to ensure that the RET did not provide an incentive for the burning of native forest wood waste for bio-energy, which could lead to unintended outcomes for biodiversity and the destruction of intact carbon stores.”

Native forest logging has continued in this past decade, at a cost to the economy, environment, climate and threatened species.  Forests store and draw down huge volumes of carbon and are vital allies in our efforts to avert catastrophic climate change. Logging native forests and releasing their carbon into the atmosphere is a major cause of climate change.
 
Native forest dependent species are further down the path to extinction due to ongoing native forest logging, including the Swift parrot, the Greater Glider and Koala.

Australia is in the midst of the climate, biodiversity and extinction crisis,  protecting native forests across Australia will benefit from their role in soaking up and storing carbon and as the only habitat remaining for many iconic threatened species on the path to extinction.

Remove native forest wood from the list of renewable energy sources immediately.

We recognise First Nations as the custodians of land and water across Australia and pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge sovereignty was never ceded.

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Protecting Australia’s forests from biomass burning

Reinstate the exclusion of native forest biomass as a renewable source of energy.

Write your letter today

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