WOOD PELLETS REMAIN A VITAL ELEMENT IN BIOMASS ENERGY PRODUCTION IN ASIA

ISSUE #90

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© Independent Power Asia

(ISSN 1468 7100)

Large subsidies for biomass in recent years have led Japan to import considerable amounts of wood pellets from Vietnam and Canada for biomass energy plants. Two pellet giants, Drax and Enviva, are now looking at market growth opportunities in Japan..

South Korea imports most of its biomass pellets from Vietnamese acacia plantations, which environmentalists fear may eventually pressure natural forests. South Korea wants to grow its native production sixfold, including logging areas with high conservation value.

Vietnam may soon follow Japan and South Korea’s path as it phases out coal, and experts fear all this could ut pressure on Southeast Asian forests which are already among the most endangered in the world.

Using biomass to burn for making electricity takes stored CO2 out of trees and puts it back into the atmosphere.

Currently, United Nations carbon accounting rules define burning woody biomass as carbon neutral because newly planted trees absorb CO2.

As a result, neither Japan nor South Korea counts that CO2 among its emissions, despite the fact that numerous studies have challenged industry claims of carbon neutrality when it comes to burning biomass.

IN 2021, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA IMPORTED A COMBINED 6 MILLION METRIC TONS OF WOOD PELLETS AS BIOMASS.”

In 2021, Japan and South Korea imported a combined 6 million metric tons of wood pellets, according to data compiled by the nonprofits Biomass Industry Society Network (BIN) and Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC). Both nations import palm kernel shells, a byproduct of palm oil production. A smaller percentage of both countries’ biomass fuel, including wood chips, is sourced domestically.

Wood pellet demand in Japan and South Korea is expected to match that of the UK and European Union by 2027. The EU currently supplies 60% of its supposedly ‘renewable energy’ through biomass.

Although Asian woody biomass sourcing is just one production demand being made on the world’s forestry industry (wood for pulp, paper and construction are others), experts warn that a surge in biomass-for-energy production could lead to increased deforestation. All this for a fuel which, no matter what the carbon accounting rules say, emits higher levels of CO2 at the smokestack than even coal and large amounts of particulate air pollution. In 2021, Japan also sourced 4.3 million metric tons of oil palm shells from Malaysia and Indonesia. Oil palm plantations have also been blamed for massive deforestation across Southeast Asia. And so the cycle continues.

AIDAN TURNBULL Managing Editor

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