Publications

Reports

Developing EU measures to address forest-risk commodities: What can be learned from EU regulation of other sectors?

The EU is one of the largest drivers of tropical deforestation. Consumption of agricultural commodities has given the EU a huge and largely unacknowledged footprint in the rainforests. To reduce its forest footprint, the EU must...

25/11/2016

NGO Statements

Letter to Commissioner Hogan re: commitment to promote meat consumption

Twelve NGOs have written to the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development to express concerns about his commitment to invest in promoting meat consumption in Europe and European beef in foreign markets.

09/11/2016

Reports

Going Negative - How carbon sinks could cost the Earth

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change was a landmark, which put the use of land-based sinks such as forests at the heart of the global blueprint for stemming global warming.This raises two problems.1. It may encourage the...

25/10/2016

Reports

A dangerous delusion: Debunking the myths around sustainable forests and the EU’s bioenergy policy

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,...

19/10/2016

Briefing Notes

Burning trees for energy is no solution to climate change

This briefing note outlines why using wood to produce renewable electricity and heat can increase carbon dioxide emissions. It explains what is wrong with the assumption that all biomass use for energy is ‘carbon-neutral’ and why...

14/10/2016

NGO Statements

Aviation industry plan to offset emissions will push global warming beyond 1.5° Celsius

Aviation is one of only two sectors worldwide with no existing United Nations’ (UN) targets to reduce emissions. The UN International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has put forward a proposal to deal with climate change which...

27/09/2016

Briefing Notes

Cheating the climate: the problems with aviation industry plans to offset emissions

The UN Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas does not cover emissions from international aviation. These are regulated by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which has been tasked with adopting a proposal...

19/09/2016

Reports

A new sustainable bioenergy policy

The European Commission has announced that it will propose a new and improved bioenergy sustainability policy for the use of biomass in heating, electricity and transport as part of its Climate and Energy Package for 2030.

This...

05/09/2016

Reports

Financing land grabs and deforestation: The role of EU banks and investors

In recent years, a growing body of evidence has shown how large scale agricultural companies are driving land grabs and deforestation in the tropics. This report is a contribution to the debate on how to tackle these issues. It...

27/07/2016

Reports

A comparison of national sustainability schemes for solid biomass in the EU

There are no harmonised sustainability criteria for bioenergy or the sourcing of biomass across the European Union (EU). EU Member States have therefore largely relied on domestic Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) rules to guide...

26/07/2016