RED alert: EU prescription for the climate is to burn more trees

30 March 2023
by WWF -- last modified 30 March 2023

After a long night of negotiating, EU co-legislators agreed on the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The agreement, which bundles both revisions under the Fit for 55 package and RePowerEU, should be the Union's road map towards a renewable future. But WWF believes that the failure to tackle the biomass problem and the gutting of important nature protection rules means a lot of harm will be done along the way.

This morning the European Council, Parliament and Commission finalised their heavily discussed deal on the RED. Unfortunately, it seems that in their late night horse-trading EU co-legislators have come up with a flawed deal that makes further reforms inevitable as the big issues have not been solved.

"A higher renewable energy target, but one that Member States can meet by burning more trees and damming the few remaining rivers not already choked by hydropower, is a recipe for disaster. And faster permitting - which is essential - now risks being achieved in a way that endangers nature and biodiversity, crucial allies in the fight against climate change," said Alex Mason, Head of Climate & Energy at WWF Europe.

A higher Renewable Energy Target at the expense of our climate and forests?

During this final trilogue meeting, EU co-legislators decided on a higher Renewable Energy Target (RET) to 42.5% from a previous 32%. WWF welcomes this increase, but notes that it's still behind the facts, as recent studies have shown that the EU is on track to reach more than 45% by 2030.

On top of that, the higher target could end up being a Trojan horse if it's not achieved by wind and solar but by burning more primary woody biomass (e.g.  tree trunks), which can increase emissions of CO2 for decades to centuries compared to fossil fuels.

In the face of the opposition from the Council, led by Sweden, the negotiators failed to stop this by abandoning the Parliament's proposal for a cap on the amount of primary woody biomass that can count as renewable energy. Instead, they merely settled for weak provisions on the cascading principle, with a long list of exceptions, meaning that business as usual will continue.

The fate of our forests now seems to rely on the ban of direct financial support for the use of saw logs, veneer logs, industrial grade roundwood, stumps and roots to produce energy. But the devil is in the details, only direct financial support such as payments, investment aids and direct price support schemes will be banned, tax benefits for example will not.

"The EU had an opportunity to end the scandal of burning ever more trees for energy, by limiting the amount of primary woody biomass that can be considered as renewable energy. But instead, and despite all scientific evidence, the negotiators endorsed a position that will accelerate climate change in the name of climate action! This ensures the biomass issue will remain an open wound and that further reforms are inevitable," said Juliette Lunel, Climate and Land Use Policy Officer at WWF Europe.

Nature and climate should go hand in hand, not be pitted against one another

To boost and quicken the deployment of renewables, the European Commission proposed the creation of acceleration areas. WWF welcomes this development and the agreement on faster permitting deadlines, which will speed up the deployment of the wind and solar energy we desperately need. But WWF deplores the decision to scrap important rules on nature protection and public participation, which will do little to help and could simply generate public opposition.

"A massive and rapid expansion of wind and solar power is crucial to getting out of this fossil-fueled energy crisis, but it should be achieved by better spatial planning and more administrative capacity in permitting authorities, not scrapping rules on environmental protection or public engagement. Environmental impact assessments are essential to guarantee that the energy transition tackles both climate change and the biodiversity crisis," said Arnaud Van Dooren, Climate & Energy Policy Officer at WWF Europe.

The agreement also fails to protect Europe's rivers from new hydropower deployment, despite requests by 130+ NGOs. EU co-legislators failed to recognise this and ban new hydropower plants from acceleration areas. According to WWF's Living Planet Report 2022, monitored freshwater migratory fish populations have already declined by 93% in Europe, with (hydropower) dams as a major cause.

Member States will only have the flexibility to exclude them from acceleration areas if they want to - which is not sufficient to prevent harmful projects from going ahead. The negotiators also failed to agree on an article for sustainability criteria for hydropower, asked for by the NGOs. The final text only refers to hydropower and the link to the Water Framework Directive in a recital.

A spark of light can be found regarding the placement of offshore renewables. Member States have successfully aligned climate and biodiversity targets by preventing offshore energy development in sensitive areas such as marine mammal corridors, which are migration routes for species navigating long distances. WWF also welcomes the agreement that deployment of offshore renewables must align with national strategies for planning maritime activities.

"A critical piece of the puzzle for achieving energy security, sustainable offshore deployment and carbon neutrality in the EU without compromising nature has fallen into place. However, closing some marine areas to developers does not mean they are protected from other human activities or the impacts of climate change. To complete the puzzle, Member States must keep the blue in the green via robust planning and management of all at-sea activities, including nature restoration and protection," said Antonia Leroy, Head of Ocean Policy at WWF Europe.

WWF is an independent conservation organisation, with over 30 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

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