WB0820_pgs_bkj.qxp_Wood Bioenergy Magazine 7/7/20 4:00 PM Page 16
Enviva Hosts Webinar On Biomass By Jessica Johnson
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sustainability must be tracked, and REDII requires management systems at the forest sourcing level. Jenkins described that these systems must be designed to account for the legality of harvesting operations; forest regeneration of harvested areas; areas designated for nature protection purposes are protected; harvesting considers maintenance of soil quality and biodiversity; and that harvesting maintains or improves long-term product capacity of the forest. She cited the European Commission directive stating that for any country not a party to the Paris Accord, “management systems are in place at forest sourcing area level to ensure that carbon stocks and sinks levels in the forest are maintained, or strengthened over the long term.” Jenkins, who has been at the forefront of creating a tracking system for Enviva’s harvesting contractors called Track and Trace, explained how the Enviva system meets and exceeds the requirements laid out by the European Commission. Harvests must meet strict guidelines, including no non-forest conversions and other industry standard best management practices. Jenkins addressed the positive economic impact that biomass has on local and especially rural economies in the U.S. with some compelling data positively correlating forest harvest and growth; before closing with how stand or single tree accounting cannot provide accurate near or long term assessments of the net GHG emissions. The webinar circled back to some high level forest industry remarks—like biomass is not the market driver for a given harvest of timber; that clear-cut has a negative connation in the public eye; and proper forest management actually yields more trees overall. Jenkins ended with the sentiment that the biomass debate has been emotionalized away from the data.
n May 27, Jennifer Jenkins, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Enviva, and Roger Ballentine, President, Green Strategies, hosted a webinar based on a paper the two published May 6 called Seeing The Forest: Sustainable Wood Bioenergy In The Southeast U.S. The hour and a half long presentation touched on the major topics of the paper. The six Jennifer Jenkins major themes included the role of biomass in a clean energy portfolio; not all biomass is good/not all biomass is bad; aggregate national-level greenhouse gas inventories fully account for biomass/there is no “loophole”; the net climate impact of biomass sourced from private working forests cannot be properly assessed without consideration of market economics; focus on single tree or stand level accounting does not provide an accurate assessment of net GHG emissions in the near or long term; and other attributes that must be part of any evaluation of biomass production from U.S. Southeast forests. Ballentine initially focused on steps needed to achieve mid-century climate goals, which include reducing global warming by 1.5°C. Citing information from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA): A tripling of bioenergy use across economic sectors can help achieve 2050 targets for decarbonization. The pair then began the more broad scope descriptions of biomass and what steps Enviva sees necessary in order to have biomass more widely accepted and utilized to help achieve a cooler planet. Jenkins touched on the basics of a working forest, especially in the Southern U.S. She noted that forest inventory in the U.S. South has increased while harvests remain steady—pellets accounted for just 2.7% of removals in 2017. She was clear to explain that while Enviva supports limiting harvesting use, private landowners dominate the forestland of the U.S. South, and halting harvests would be problematic, and detrimental to local rural economies. As part of the European Commission’s revised Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), biomass Enviva webinar focused on perceptions and realities of forest biomass
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Wood Bioenergy / August 2020
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