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Rishi Sunak lambasted by scientists for UK’s ‘disturbing’ energy source | Climate News



Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been called out by more than 600 scientists for the UK’s controversial use of a form of energy, which they say is destroying “the lungs of the earth”.

Signatories from every continent spoke out in a letter about the “devastating impact” of bioenergy on forests.

The controversial form of energy, which divides scientific opinion, involves cutting down trees and burning them to generate electricity.

Science professors and students warn of the industry’s “growing threat to biodiversity” because of the way they say it cuts down trees and habitats.

They warn it weakens a High current stakes promote to slow the rapid loss of life-sustaining nature.

“It is simply not environmentally sustainable,” said Kew Gardens scientific director Professor Alexandre Antonelli, one of the lead authors.

“Sustainability means you can do something forever… and because we’re losing forests that have grown for decades, if not centuries, we not allowing nature to recover to the extent necessary to restore biodiversity,” he told Sky. News.

That’s important, he says, because healthy, old forests are home to things like moss, which can slow floods, pollinate insects and birds, and can absorb a lot of carbon. more dioxide.

They want the UK and leaders from other major bioenergy users or consumers – including President Xi Jinping of China and US President Joe Biden – to abandon the form of energy altogether. this.

The letter landed just before the global nature talks COP15 begins in Montreal next week, aims to stem the rapid loss of nature that supplies the world with food, medicine, income and pollination.

The signatories warn the talks could fail unless businesses stop clearing forests for bioenergy, which has boomed in recent years to replace coal, the dirty fossil fuel. best.

‘Not the right solution’

Government climate advisers plan a limited role for bioenergy in the UK, which generated 12.9% of electricity last year.

But since a million species globally are now endangered, “we must do everything we can to reverse the loss of biodiversity worldwide,” argues Professor Antonelli.

“The climate crisis and biodiversity are closely linked, and we need to find a solution to both,” he said, acknowledging “the worldwide energy transition will difficult”.

“But we don’t think burning forests… is the right solution,” he said. The signatories want governments to replace it with wind or solar power.

Many countries classify bioenergy as renewable energy even though it emits more climate-warming carbon dioxide than oil or gas.

Biomass advocates say the trees instead absorb those greenhouse gases as they grow – critics say the trees take too long to regrow and may never grow back.

Strict sustainability criteria

Mark Sommerfield from UK industry body REA says “biodiversity considerations are an important component of sustainable governance of biomass”.

He cited a review of 211 studies, 69% of which concluded that forestry had no negative impact on biodiversity.

The letter accuses the deforestation industry, which means cutting down entire sections rather than continuing to cover them, and is believed to be particularly harmful to biodiversity.

Mr Sommerfield said bioenergy is part of a “broader forestry economy”, which typically uses waste from the timber industry, and therefore eliminates waste.

In October, 550 industry-friendly academics wrote a letter arguing that bioenergy could “replace fossil energy and be an important part of climate protection policy”.

A government spokesman said the UK “supports only biomass that adheres to our strict sustainability criteria”.

“Many biomass feedstocks have the potential to be burned or decomposed, so it is more efficient to use that as an energy source and replace expensive, volatile fossil fuels in the process.” , they added.

Watch the Daily Climate Show at 3:30pm Monday through Friday and the Climate Show with Tom Heap Saturday and Sunday at 3:30pm and 7:30pm.

All on Sky News, on the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter.

The program investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.

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