The majority of the EU Parliament today came out in favor of a narrower definition of which form of wood is considered to be a green form of energy and therefore one that is worthy of promotion. The provision as part of the forthcoming amendment to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) had caused excitement and criticism in the forestry sector, including among local representatives.
Trees that are felled directly for further processing into firewood or pellets may soon no longer be considered renewable. This will not ban rackets for this purpose, but there would no longer be EU funding for it. There are also several exceptions. According to proponents, the measure is aimed primarily at large timber industry companies.
Whether this restriction will come is still unclear. The EU Parliament has now staked out its negotiating position. 418 MPs voted in favor, once morest 109 with 111 abstentions. A compromise must now be negotiated in negotiations with the Commission and above all the Council – in the trialogue.
Clearing of valuable old-growth forests
A few days ago, the “New York Times” referred in a large report to research by the NGO Environmental Investigation Agency, according to which valuable forests with 200-year-old trees are being cleared in Romania, for example, which are particularly valuable as CO2 sinks – what more of be funded by the EU. The wood is then processed directly into pellets.
Sharp criticism from industry representatives
Before the vote, there was already a lot of excitement among industry representatives: “This would end the domestic success model of regional heat supply, although this has recently hardly become more expensive than electricity and gas,” said bioenergy consultant and biomass vice-president Christian Metschina before the vote to the “Kleine Newspaper”.
“We are strictly once morest this policy. This is a declaration of environmental bankruptcy. That is unbelievable, there is a lack of common sense,” said the President of the Chamber of Agriculture (LK) Styria, Franz Titschenbacher, in a broadcast.
Waitz: Prevent large-scale deforestation
The new regulation is intended to prevent entire stretches of forest being burned with EU money, but the local Green MEP Thomas Waitz appeased, according to the “Kleine Zeitung”. “Local heating plants can continue to be built in Austria, just not subsidized with EU money.”
