A Dangerous Delusion exposes the myth that problems don’t exist with biomass from Europe’s forests – where the EU sources most of its biomass – because they are managed sustainably. It includes case studies on Sweden, Romania, Germany and Latvia, underlining the huge disparity in the way forests are managed across Europe. But Fern sees the focus on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the bioenergy policy debate as a distraction from the more fundamental problem - the scale at which bioenergy is incentivised by the EU’s renewable policy. This increases emissions and halts efficient use of wood, neither of which can be tackled by SFM rules. The way biomass – a limited resource – is used rather than how forests are managed is the key issue.
