The European Parliament has made climate change one of its key priorities. We have committed ourselves to a 20 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring 20 per cent of total energy consumption comes from renewable energy.
Yet as we further strive to decarbonise the European economy, and to promote renewable sources of energy, we still have a duty to deliver European citizens the secure, reliable and cost efficient energy supplies they need to keep their houses and businesses working.
There are legitimate reasons why some European countries have decided to remain with coal. It is reliable, it is abundant and it is relatively cheap but it is not an answer to the challenge of climate change.
If we want to phase out fossil fuels in our power plants we need replacements which deliver the same flexibility, reliability and affordability without the carbon disadvantages.
Biomass is an effective alternative to coal. Today bioenergy accounts for 60 per cent of EU renewables including heat.
However, in the UK, biomass use is a long way below the European average and so it misses out on decarbonisation opportunities many of its European partners take for granted.
That said, it is the power sector in the UK where a relatively small amount of biomass is making a disproportionately positive impact on emissions.
It is the UK power sector’s use of biomass which highlights benefits that others in the rest of Europe are starting to take note of. Power from biomass is low cost, you can store it and the market for low grade wood actually encourages vibrant forest growth.
This is very good news. Biomass can offer an 85 per cent net CO2 savings compared to coal, once transportation and processing have been taken into consideration.
Working forests across the world produce a considerable amount of waste both when they are thinned to encourage larger, straighter trees for the construction and furniture markets and later when they are harvested for those high-value products.
Not all of this low-grade fibre is wasted, other industries can make use of it but only if they have a mill near enough. In any case they need a fraction of the fibre which is wasted every year.
This means wood is needlessly left to rot, a process which in itself produces CO2, while many European power stations continue to use coal.
Whilst wood is the oldest renewable, it actually takes cutting-edge technology to ensure the carbon footprint of compressed wood pellets imported from as far away as North America is so low. But it has been shown to be possible. Ships transporting coal to Europe are being substituted for ships from North America where the world’s largest forest industry creates the largest surpluses of unused wood.
As technology improves we need not depend on the fossil fuel reserves of the Middle East, Russia and South America for reliable power.
As this market establishes itself we must ensure that the biomass industry is sustainable. It must ensure overall forest stocks are not depleted and vulnerable biodiversity is protected.
That is why I welcome the EU’s proposed new sustainability standards for biomass
I hope the Parliament will work to ensure that the new bioenergy policy will give the industry an effective framework to continue to trade within the European Union and with partners, such as North America.
We have an opportunity to help deliver the goals of the energy union by radically decarbonising the economy and promoting energy security while still producing power in a cost effective and reliable manner.