Tree Huggers

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Burning wood is not ‘renewable energy,’ so why do policymakers pretend it is? (news.mongabay.com)

submitted 6 days ago by wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net to c/treehuggers@slrpnk.net

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[–] houseofleft@slrpnk.net 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I agree with you, but it's worth mentioning that a lot of goverments (such as the UK) are classing burning wood pellets as 0 carbon energy. The argument being that burning wood releases recently absorbed carbon (from the last 20 years or so) so doesn't increase overall levels of carbon in the same way as coal.

I kinda see the argument, but it does sound like a dangerous path towards "eco-accounting" like we've seen with offsetting, where calculations for carbon release are out of wack with the scientific reality.

Edit: I get that the writer is conflating two seperate terms btw, but think there's a version of this argument that makes sense.