The European Union is considering changes to its climate policy that could have a major impact on Georgia’s trees and Georgian business.
This story also appeared in VABE
The EU uses wood pellets made from trees in the southeast to burn electricity and claims the practice is neutral. Now, that may change that attitude.
David Borax, a climate reporter at the VFAE in Charlotte, reported on the wood pellet industry. He spoke with VABE about what this possible policy change could mean.
“The United States is a major supplier of wood pellets to Europe, and the industry is growing rapidly - mostly here in the southeast,” says Borax. “Exports of wood pellets to the United States have increased by more than 60% since 2016, with sales of just over a billion dollars a year.
It is a big business in Georgia, which is home to the largest wood pellet factory in the world, located in Waycross. According to the state commission for forestry, in 2019, Georgia exported wood pellets worth nearly 260 million dollars.
“Enviva, which owns a factory in Waycross, is the largest American exporter. He is still building a factory and says he wants to double sales in the next five years, “says Boraks.
Wood pellets are made from trees and parts of trees left after felling. The wood is ground and compressed into small pellets that can then be burned instead of coal, he says.
Borax explains that the wood pellet industry has grown in the south for several reasons: Most of the forests here are privately owned and allow logging, unlike in Europe; Southern states subsidize the construction of a pellet factory to support job growth in rural areas; and Europe classifies wood pellet combustion as carbon neutral, and governments there pay energy companies to use pellets instead of coal.
“Trees are certainly renewable, but it may take decades to re-grow forests that were lost through these operations,” he said.
All in all, he says wood pellets are not, in fact, carbon neutral.
“Combustion of wood pellets emits more carbon than coal,” he says. “Climate researchers also say that we should also include carbon emissions from the entire wood pellet supply chain - in logging, transporting pellets to and from ports and shipping to Europe on ships that burn diesel fuel.
At the local level, he adds, wood pellet factories are often located in color communities and in lower-income communities. “Plants create jobs, but they also bring dust, noise and truck traffic. So the leaders and activists of the neighborhood refused, “he said.
Now, the European Parliament is reviewing its rules on wood pellets. “After years of criticism and lobbying by environmentalists on both sides of the Atlantic,” Borax said. “This month, the Environment Committee approved new restrictions on the use of wood felled from primary forests.
The change will go to another committee and “could go to a vote in the full European Parliament in September,” he says.
The wood pellet industry is retaliating, says Boraks.
The American Association of Industrial Wood Pellets stated in a statement that wood pellets are needed “to protect European energy security and to meet ambitious climate goals.”
Enviva declined to comment.
“Critics of the industry are full of hope, but they are cautious,” he said. “Meanwhile, Britain, which is the largest user of wood pellets, is no longer a member of the EU. So, in parallel, we are working on limiting wood pellets. We could hear something by the end of the year. ”