At the beginning of April, British climate NGO Sandbag published a press release entitled “For the first time, 4 out of 5 largest EU emitters are German lignite producers.” A shift took place between the fifth and sixth positions because the British Drax coal plant increasingly runs on imported biomass. Craig Morris says paying more attention to producers and less to consumers would help us see the issue in a clearer light. The Drax coal plant in question reduced its emissions by 18 percent last year “as it switched to burning biomass,” Sandbag’s press release explains. The text puts the pressure on lignite sector, especially in Germany, to reduce emissions. Is Sandbag praising Drax for lowering emissions by burning biomass largely imported from North America? When I asked Sandbag whether they have a position on the co-firing of imported wood pellets, I got no response. It’s a dilemma – you don’t want carbon emissions, but biomass shipped across the Atlantic makes no sense either. The “solution” pursued at Drax is a perverse outcome of our … Continue reading How British biomass makes German coal look worse