JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The South Korean authorities will scale back subsidies for biomass power after rising home and worldwide criticism of its hyperlink to deforestation. Environmental activists typically applauded the reforms however criticized loopholes and gradual timelines for phasing out the subsidies.
“Whereas not with out caveats, (the) choice by the South Korean authorities demonstrates that large-scale biomass energy has no place in a renewable power future,” Hansae Tune, program lead at South Korea-based nongovernmental group Options for Our Local weather, mentioned in an e-mail to The Related Press.
Biomass energy, predominantly generated by burning wooden, is rising globally as nations speed up their transition to make use of cleaner power — despite the fact that many scientists and environmentalists see it as problematic. In South Korea, it is the second-largest supply of renewable power.
South Korea has sponsored biomass power with thousands and thousands of {dollars} for greater than a decade through their renewable power certificates program. In a single latest the federal government gave roughly $688 million to assist energy vegetation utilizing biomass, based on a press launch from South Korea’s Ministry of Commerce, Business and Power.
Confronted with restricted home forest sources, South Korea’s biomass energy trade has structured its enterprise mannequin round importing massive volumes of wooden pellets at decrease costs from forest-rich nations. In 2023, imports accounted for 82% of the nation’s wooden pellet demand, making South Korea the world’s third-largest importer of biomass fuels, after the UK and Japan. An AP report discovered that biomass imported from Indonesia was linked to deforestation of pure, intact forest.
“Because the (biomass) market expanded, varied points emerged,” the Ministry of Commerce, Business and Power mentioned in their press release. “Criticisms concerning forest degradation and carbon emissions related to biomass energy technology persist.”
Beneath the revised coverage, South Korea is not going to assist any new biomass energy vegetation. Subsidies for six present state-owned vegetation co-firing coal and biomass will finish this yr, whereas the worth of renewable power certificates for 3 state-owned devoted biomass vegetation shall be phased down by 2027. At privately owned vegetation, subsidies for co-fired biomass from six vegetation shall be phased out over the following decade, whereas subsidy weightings shall be decreased for 12 devoted biomass vegetation over the following 15 years.
However environmental activists are crucial of loopholes within the new coverage.
Domestically produced wooden pellets and chips will nonetheless have the identical degree of assist as earlier than, together with these co-fired with coal — which consultants say may pose a menace to South Korea’s forests. Energy vegetation underneath building or in planning with authorized enterprise permits are exempt from the brand new coverage and topic to the phased discount timelines for present services.
State-owned co-firing services — which is able to lose their renewable power certificates — at the moment account for less than 10% of South Korea’s biomass energy fleet, whereas the phase-out of most non-public co-firing will take over a decade to finish underneath the brand new coverage, mentioned Options for Our Local weather.
“This extends the lifetime of thermal energy vegetation — many with emissions per unit of power increased than coal — past the Paris Settlement-aligned coal phase-out deadlines,” Tune wrote in an e-mail to AP.
The South Korean Ministry of Commerce, Business and Power, Korea Forest Service and Ministry of Setting didn’t reply to requests for remark from AP.
As nations speed up their power transitions, demand for biomass is rising: The a mean of about 3% per yr between 2010 and 2022, the Worldwide Power Company mentioned.
Consultants together with the IEA say it’s vital for that demand to occur in a sustainable means, akin to utilizing waste and crop residue reasonably than changing forest land to develop bioenergy crops. Deforestation contributes to erosion, damages biodiverse areas, threatens wildlife and people who depend on the forest and intensifies disasters from extreme weather.
Many scientists and environmentalists have rejected using biomass altogether. They are saying burning wood-based biomass can emit extra carbon than coal and tree-cutting vastly reduces forests’ potential to take away carbon from the environment. Critics additionally say that utilizing biomass to co-fire, as a substitute of transitioning immediately to scrub power, merely prolongs using coal.
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