CBD COP16 can STOP harmful biomass energy subsidies – if the will is there

Subsidies for large-scale centralised energy generation from forest biomass must be phased out urgently starting next year as nations agreed in Target 18 (see below) of the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), according to the Biomass Action Network at CBD COP16 in Cali, Colombia.

CBD COP16: biomass is a false solution

Many climate crisis pledges include burning forest biomass for energy as a mitigation option. This is a false solution with no emissions reduction benefit. It leads to serious negative consequences for the climate, biodiversity, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities, lacks a rights-based approach, and is justified only by abusing a carbon accounting loophole.

The draft decision text under consideration in Agenda item 11 at CBD COP16 contains several mentions of harmful subsidies in which Parties are urged to identify and eliminate financial resource flows causing harm, at domestic and international levels, by redirecting or phasing them out. Text negotiations begin later this week.

“Subsidies to forest biomass energy have to be eliminated with urgency as they rely on broadscale clearcutting of natural forests and the wholesale conversion of natural ecosystems to monoculture plantations. Both practices involve massive destruction of biodiversity” said Peg Putt, campaign coordinator of the Biomass Action Network:

So-called ‘sustainability’ criteria applied in some jurisdictions are overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the impacts and contain ineffectual provisions that amount to greenwashing in an attempt to evade real action to protect biodiversity.

Act now – and effectively

The Biomass Action Network is calling on delegates at CBD COP16 to:

• Designate direct and indirect subsidies to forest biomass as most harmful incentives to biodiversity by 2025 and substantially phase out by 2030 per GBF Target 18.
• Eliminate all subsidies for the biomass industry with urgency, including for coal and biomass co-firing, using woody biomass from primary forests, and converting forests and other ecosystems to energy plantations.
• Update their countries’ National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with time-bound plans for removal of all harmful subsidies since redirecting those freed-up funds can make a major contribution to resourcing positive action for biodiversity.

GBF Target 18 is as follows:

Identify by 2025, and eliminate, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies, harmful for biodiversity, in a proportionate, just, fair, effective and equitable way, while substantially and progressively reducing them by at least $500 billion per year by 2030, starting with the most harmful incentives, and scale up positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Featured image via the Canary