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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=bioenergy&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/bioenergy/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2026 21:47:45 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Bioenergy</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/bioenergy/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Indonesia&#8217;s blackouts reignite debate over coal-dependent energy transition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2026 09:45:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/09170445/chimneys-of-Suralaya-coal-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322168</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Global, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Just Transition, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. In late May, large parts of Sumatra lost electricity after a transmission line [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. In late May, large parts of Sumatra lost electricity after a transmission line in Jambi failed. Just days later, a separate outage disrupted power across parts of Java, Indonesia&#8217;s most populous island and economic center. While officials initially pointed to technical problems, state utility PLN later said constrained coal supplies had contributed to the Java outage. For energy analysts, the outages underscore a broader structural problem. &#8220;The dependence on a centralized, coal-dominated electricity system is a threat to energy supply security,&#8221; said Fabby Tumiwa, executive director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR). To reduce the risk of more widespread outages, analysts at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a U.S.-based think tank, said Indonesia should accelerate the      deployment of decentralized renewable energy, particularly rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems (BESS). &#8220;For Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems offers a viable alternative to diesel power, which can be costly and challenging to supply,&#8221; IEEFA researchers Mutya Yustika and Randi Bachtiar wrote in a recent analysis. Unlike fossil fuels, they noted, solar power is not vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions or price volatility. Because rooftop systems can be installed on homes, businesses and industrial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322168</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Solar brings power to women entrepreneurs in Borneo, but rural energy inequality remains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 10:36:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yuda Almerio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14100334/solar-panels-and-cacti-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319421</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Gender, Governance, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in Muara Enggelam acquired diesel generators, bringing electric lighting for the first time to the timber stilt houses that still line the last mile of the river where the Enggelam meets Borneo’s Lake Melintang. The Kutai Kartanegara district government here later expanded this basic electrification program, but residents paid several times more for power than a grid-connected urban household. Moreover, the generators ran only from dusk to dawn and would frequently break down, plunging Muara Enggelam back into the void Asniah recalled on moving here three decades earlier as a child. “We were just grateful — things had been harder before,” Asniah, a mother of three now in her early 40s, told Mongabay Indonesia at her home. “Even though there was 24-hour electricity in the city at the time,” she added. Stable energy access provides greater scope for women to develop businesses and contribute to the family economy. Image by Yuda Almerio/Mongabay Indonesia Remote work Uneven access to electricity has abetted inequality in what is now Indonesia ever since Dutch colonialists introduced captive coal plants in the 19th century to power their plantation operations. Indonesia’s Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, records the wealth gap between&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319421</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fossil fuel subsidies and high costs stall energy transition across rural Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2026 11:35:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Luh De Suriyani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/21113035/DJI_0067-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317800</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DENPASAR, Indonesia — Renewable energy uptake has yet to gather momentum across Indonesia’s more than 84,000 villages, a new report concludes, as the government of the world’s fourth-largest country pledges to achieve a radical energy transformation over the next decade. “Village street lighting has increased, while household use has declined due to high initial costs, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DENPASAR, Indonesia — Renewable energy uptake has yet to gather momentum across Indonesia’s more than 84,000 villages, a new report concludes, as the government of the world’s fourth-largest country pledges to achieve a radical energy transformation over the next decade. “Village street lighting has increased, while household use has declined due to high initial costs, minimal incentives, and the dominance of fossil fuel subsidies,” according to the Village Energy Transition Readiness Index, a report published by Jakarta-based think tank the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) and Greenpeace. Indonesia’s statistics agency counted 84,291 villages across the world’s largest archipelagic nation as of 2025. Around 1.4 million people among Indonesia’s population of 270 million still lack all access to electricity, according to Eniya Listiani Dewi, the renewable energy lead at Indonesia’s mining and energy ministry. “Previously, many villages had clean energy initiatives, including solar power plants, micro-hydropower plants, and others, but the number of such initiatives has actually gone down,” said Wahyudi Askar at Celios. Despite technological progress and availability of cheaper solar hardware, the total number of villages and subdistricts reporting solar power use among households declined from 4,176 in 2021 to 3,076 in 2024, a reduction of 26.4%. However, the number of villages using street lighting powered by photovoltaics increased over the same period. Some 24,766 villages or neighborhood areas used solar to power streetlights in 2021, and this increased by 20.1% over the three-year period to 30,476 in total. For more than a decade, local governments and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317800</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay launches Solutions Desk to track what works for the planet</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mongabay-launches-solutions-desk-to-track-what-works-for-the-planet/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mongabay-launches-solutions-desk-to-track-what-works-for-the-planet/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 14:25:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alejandroprescottcornejo]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/06171649/IMG_4734-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317026</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Bioenergy, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Indigenous Peoples, Journalism, Small Cats, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Think environmental news, and the headlines tend to be bleak: extinctions, habitat loss, unrelenting emissions. And often what gets lost in all the doom and gloom is the potential for solutions to emerge — solutions that, in many cases, hold the promise of hope. Across environmental and climate actions, a wide range of stakeholders — [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Think environmental news, and the headlines tend to be bleak: extinctions, habitat loss, unrelenting emissions. And often what gets lost in all the doom and gloom is the potential for solutions to emerge — solutions that, in many cases, hold the promise of hope. Across environmental and climate actions, a wide range of stakeholders — from local communities to governments to organizations — are working to address the challenges facing nature. Yet, understanding whether these approaches actually work remains a persistent gap. In response, Mongabay has launched a new Solutions Desk to explore how people are working to address environmental problems and reveal insights into the effectiveness of practices across contexts. This new desk adopts solutions journalism, focusing on responses to complex problems, assessing evidence of outcomes, and identifying what works and what doesn’t, so that others can learn, iterate and improve. In other words, it highlights how people and institutions respond to problems about nature, rather than spotlighting solely the problems themselves. “Years of grim headlines have revealed an uncomfortable truth: when people are offered only catastrophe, many disengage. They stop reading, stop caring, and, in some cases, stop believing that anything meaningful can still be done,” says Rhett Ayers Butler, Mongabay founder and CEO. “By launching a dedicated Solutions Desk, Mongabay aims to rigorously document what’s working in conservation and climate, offering readers a sense of agency and grounded inspiration at a time when the challenges can feel overwhelming.” School of hammerhead sharks in Mikimoto, Japan. Image courtesy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mongabay-launches-solutions-desk-to-track-what-works-for-the-planet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/mongabay-launches-solutions-desk-to-track-what-works-for-the-planet/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317026</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest advocates accuse EU energy firm of Dutch biomass certification fraud</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2026 16:21:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/25141443/wood-pellets-burning-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315699</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, European Union, Global, Malaysia, and Netherlands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Controversial, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Industry, Politics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For years, a battle has raged between EU nations that claim their forest biomass certification policies safeguard against deforestation, promote sustainability and enable carbon-emissions reductions, even as forest advocates have argued that those policies fail to combat climate change, are badly flawed or outright fraudulent. EU policymakers remain entrenched today, defending their certification schemes as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For years, a battle has raged between EU nations that claim their forest biomass certification policies safeguard against deforestation, promote sustainability and enable carbon-emissions reductions, even as forest advocates have argued that those policies fail to combat climate change, are badly flawed or outright fraudulent. EU policymakers remain entrenched today, defending their certification schemes as a means of complying with laws to stop burning coal and for achieving national net-zero goals, despite evidence that burning wood pellets to make energy is dirtier than coal. But now forest advocates are turning up the pressure in the Netherlands in an unprecedented way. In a possible first-of-its-kind action, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service is considering a criminal investigation against RWE, one of the Netherlands’ largest energy providers. RWE faces allegations made by two forest advocacy groups that the company, which has collected billions of euros in Dutch biomass subsidies, misrepresented itself by claiming that hundreds of thousands of tons of wood pellets imported from Malaysia came entirely from sawmill waste. The two advocacy groups, Comite Schone Lucht and Biofuelwatch, say their research establishes that those pellets come mostly from whole trees, contributing to Malaysian deforestation. The Public Prosecution Service, the sole authority responsible for investigating and prosecuting Dutch criminal offenses, is expected to decide how to proceed by the end of March. Research shows that “biomass burning power plants emit 150% the CO2 of coal, and 300-400% the CO2 of natural gas, per unit energy produced.” Image by GIZ Bush Control and Biomass&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315699</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous communities oppose Papua forest rezoning for palm oil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-communities-oppose-papua-forest-rezoning-for-palm-oil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-communities-oppose-papua-forest-rezoning-for-palm-oil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 08:09:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/07094358/GP0SU0TGD_Medium-res-1200px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314751</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Bioenergy, Conflict, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Food, food security, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indigenous communities in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua accuse the government of underhanded zoning changes to expand the so-called food estate program there to include large-scale oil palm plantations. Indigenous representatives have filed a formal objection to two decrees issued by the Ministry of Forestry that reclassify 486,939 hectares (1.2 million acres) of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indigenous communities in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua accuse the government of underhanded zoning changes to expand the so-called food estate program there to include large-scale oil palm plantations. Indigenous representatives have filed a formal objection to two decrees issued by the Ministry of Forestry that reclassify 486,939 hectares (1.2 million acres) of forest in Merauke, Boven Digoel and Mappi districts, in South Papua province, as nonforest land. This new designation means these forests are now eligible to be cleared for oil palm plantations. The communities say these decrees were issued without consulting them and overlap with areas they’ve long proposed as customary forests, or hutan adat. They allege that the process is being bulldozed through without their knowledge or consent, and that it threatens their customary territories. “This [rezoning] harms communities because they are the owners of those forests, yet they are not recognized as customary owners,” Tigor Hutapea, a lawyer from the NGO Pusaka Bentala Rakyat working with the communities, told Mongabay. He said at least four Indigenous clans in Boven Digoel district are affected by the rezoning as the areas covered by the decrees overlap onto their customary lands. Papuan Indigenous people and activists hold a protest against Merauke Food Estate in front of the Defense Ministry office in Jakarta in 2024. Image © Afriadi Hikmal / Greenpeace. Next-day approval The rezoning follows a proposal to expand the food estate program into a broader agricultural and energy project in South Papua. On Sept. 17, 2025,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-communities-oppose-papua-forest-rezoning-for-palm-oil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-communities-oppose-papua-forest-rezoning-for-palm-oil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314751</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Boom in burning waste for fuel could put human health and environment at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2025 15:23:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/10123021/1--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311039</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Europe, Global, India, Indonesia, Jakarta, Myanmar, North America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Fires, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Methane, Planetary Health, Plastic, Pollution, Public Health, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the world desperately searches for a way out of its global climate change and plastic pollution crises, nations are increasingly turning to burning municipal waste to make fuel as a solution to both problems. One approach, dubbed refuse-derived fuel (RDF), processes, packages and burns conglomerated combustible organic waste with large amounts of potentially hazardous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the world desperately searches for a way out of its global climate change and plastic pollution crises, nations are increasingly turning to burning municipal waste to make fuel as a solution to both problems. One approach, dubbed refuse-derived fuel (RDF), processes, packages and burns conglomerated combustible organic waste with large amounts of potentially hazardous plastics in order to make fuel to produce heat or electricity. RDF is an escalating global trend causing concern among environmental experts due to its potential climate, pollution and human health impacts. RDF is typically made up of around 50% plastic waste, which is combined with other combustible materials like wood, cardboard and textiles. The mixed waste is processed via drying and shredding, with the resulting materials then burned in so-called waste-to-energy incinerators, cement kilns, or other industrial facilities such as paper mills. Proponents argue that burning waste is an effective way to simultaneously reduce landfilling and plastic pollution, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, as it’s a substitute for fossil fuels. Advocates have even marketed RDF as a circular economy solution. Critics aren’t convinced. They say that incinerating RDFs, with their high plastic content, is akin to swapping out one dirty fuel source for another, resulting in the release of significant greenhouse gases, along with harmful particulate and chemical pollutants, including dioxins, a potential byproduct of burning plastics. “Our concerns about [RDF] relate to the fact that plastic consists of polymers that are mixed with many, many different chemicals,” says Lee Bell, technical and policy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311039</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Karen community fighting corn and coal for clean air in northern Thailand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2025 02:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/06011059/f9172231-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Bioenergy, Coal, Crops, Deforestation, Fires, Flooding, Food Industry, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Mining, Public Health, Rivers, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainable Development, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAE CHAM/OMKOI, Thailand — Rain lashed down in the northern Thai village of Nong Krating as Sawattiphon Wongkasettakon described the worsening air pollution that sweeps in through the mountains here each year. “It didn’t used to be so bad, but in the last three years it’s become impossible to ignore,” Sawattiphon, a former deputy chief of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAE CHAM/OMKOI, Thailand — Rain lashed down in the northern Thai village of Nong Krating as Sawattiphon Wongkasettakon described the worsening air pollution that sweeps in through the mountains here each year. “It didn’t used to be so bad, but in the last three years it’s become impossible to ignore,” Sawattiphon, a former deputy chief of the village, told Mongabay on the porch of his home in August. “The sky gets dark, it’s uncomfortable when we breathe. It blows in from the maize farms.” Farmers in the region straddling northern Thailand, Myanmar’s Shan state and Laos grow maize to supply Thailand’s booming animal feed industry. Every year before the planting season, they set controlled fires to clear their fields of crop stubble left over from the harvest. The result: surging air pollution that sends the region’s towns and cities shooting up the rankings of the world’s most polluted places every February-April, when the burning peaks. To fix the problem, Thai leaders have tried everything from threatening to cut farmer subsidies and restricting where they can plant maize, to promoting alternative livelihoods and introducing microbial sprays for stubble decomposition. But nothing seems to break the cycle of seasonal haze, which still reaches levels more than 14 times higher than what’s considered safe by the World Health Organization. In Omkoi district, which encompasses Nong Krating village in Chiang Mai province, local officials decided years ago that enough was enough. In 2017, fearing the loss of the forests in which residents forage for herbs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drax pellet mill wins appeal to raise pollution limits in small Mississippi town</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/drax-pellet-mill-wins-appeal-to-raise-pollution-limits-in-small-mississippi-town/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/drax-pellet-mill-wins-appeal-to-raise-pollution-limits-in-small-mississippi-town/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2025 17:17:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/28163144/e4c69879-53cc-42ef-beb0-3fd4163cb5d1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308476</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Bioenergy, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Industry, Logging, Politics, Pollution, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April 2025, the town of Gloster, Mississippi, population 858, won a significant battle against the giant global wood pellet maker Drax, when the permitting board of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sided with the small community and denied the company’s request to increase air pollution limits so it could increase its manufacturing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April 2025, the town of Gloster, Mississippi, population 858, won a significant battle against the giant global wood pellet maker Drax, when the permitting board of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sided with the small community and denied the company’s request to increase air pollution limits so it could increase its manufacturing output. Residents living near the Amite BioEnergy pellet mill breathed a sigh of relief then, thinking they had prevailed in proving their argument that Drax’s emissions were already harming their health and quality of life. The U.K.-based company had been fined three times by DEQ since 2016 for more than $2.75 million for exceeding toxic emissions limits at the plant. Then, on Oct. 15, DEQ reversed its previous decision. It agreed to reclassify Drax from being a minor emitter of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) to being a major emitter, thus technically giving it permission to legally emit more HAPs than in recent years. In reversing its decision, DEQ appears to be betting on Drax’s pledge that recently installed pollution-control technology will reduce emissions overall at the Gloster plant over the long run — even as the facility seeks to produce more wood pellets. Gloster, Mississippi, citizens have long lobbied local and state officials about what they believe are serious health hazards posed by pollution coming from one of the largest wood pellet mills in the world, owned by Drax, a U.K.-headquartered transnational forest biomass and energy company. Image courtesy of Krystal Martin. Regardless of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/drax-pellet-mill-wins-appeal-to-raise-pollution-limits-in-small-mississippi-town/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308476</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With red tape, canceled rebates, Indonesia risks missing Chinese renewables investment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2025 07:56:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/03111034/solar-installation-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In late June, China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology announced a tie-up with Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to make solar panels in West Java province. That news came just a week after its rival, Trina Solar, opened a smaller factory in Central Java province. During the first six months of this year, Indonesians [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In late June, China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology announced a tie-up with Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to make solar panels in West Java province. That news came just a week after its rival, Trina Solar, opened a smaller factory in Central Java province. During the first six months of this year, Indonesians bought nearly as many electric vehicles as they did in all of 2024 — almost all from Chinese brands. As competition among clean energy firms intensifies in China, its biggest EV and renewables companies are making inroads into Indonesia, positioning themselves for the day Southeast Asia weans itself off fossil fuels. One example: Trina’s 1.5 trillion rupiah ($90 million) solar panel factory at Kendal Industrial Park in Central Java. PT Trina Mas Agra Indonesia (TMAI), the company’s joint venture with a local partner, employs 640 workers producing 1 gigawatt (GW) of next-generation solar panels that last longer and perform better in cloudy conditions. TMAI chief financial officer Martha Octavia told Mongabay the factory could triple production if needed. “The important point is that we are fully prepared, both in terms of technology and infrastructure, to scale when the timing is right,” Octavia said in emailed remarks. For now, the company is positioning itself to supply panels for some of the nearly 15 GW of utility-scale solar projects in Indonesia’s pipeline, according to data published in February by Global Energy Monitor. At present, Indonesia has just over 560 megawatts (MW) of solar power feeding the grid&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia prioritizes gas over renewables to meet power demand surge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2025 17:38:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/09170445/chimneys-of-Suralaya-coal-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305649</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In May, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity monopoly, PLN, vowed to increase its complement of natural gas power plants as part of a gambit, it said, to make its power supply cleaner and more reliable. The plan was part of a 10-year supply blueprint that also expanded use of all other sources of energy that it had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In May, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity monopoly, PLN, vowed to increase its complement of natural gas power plants as part of a gambit, it said, to make its power supply cleaner and more reliable. The plan was part of a 10-year supply blueprint that also expanded use of all other sources of energy that it had previously used, as well as some new ones, including nuclear energy, to meet rising demand while transitioning away from dirtier coal plants and scaling up renewables. But gas was by far the energy source that would see the biggest gain initially: 9.3 gigawatts. If all the new gas generators ran at full capacity — albeit a rarity — that sort of juice would theoretically be enough to power half of Indonesia’s more than 70 million households. Cleaner-burning than coal and quicker to power up when needed, gas will lead PLN’s effort, at least in the short term, to address a rapid deterioration in the utility’s ability to meet spikes in demand from parts of its network, according to the 10-year plan, known as the RUPTL. But natural gas is still a fossil fuel, and by emphasizing it over renewables, PLN risks locking itself into an expensive source of energy at a time when most of the country’s gas-powered generating capacity is going unused. PLN may need to count on subsidies to keep electricity affordable. Coal would also see a large gain during the first year of the 10-year plan — 3.2 gigawatts — before tailing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305649</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sustainable biomass certification scheme is flawed, degrades forests, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sustainable-biomass-certification-scheme-is-flawed-degrades-forests-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sustainable-biomass-certification-scheme-is-flawed-degrades-forests-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2025 15:58:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/29131303/Drax-is-the-largest-consumer-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304702</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Canada, Europe, Global, Indonesia, Japan, North America, South Korea, Southeast Asia, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Biofuels, carbon, Certification, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Politics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) is a leading global biomass certification scheme offering assurances to end users (especially nations in the EU and Asia) that biomass (especially wood pellets for energy) is “sourced both legally and sustainably.” But a recent report by a group of environmental NGOs alleges SBP is approving biomass fuel projects linked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) is a leading global biomass certification scheme offering assurances to end users (especially nations in the EU and Asia) that biomass (especially wood pellets for energy) is “sourced both legally and sustainably.” But a recent report by a group of environmental NGOs alleges SBP is approving biomass fuel projects linked to forest destruction. While SBP-certified biomass meets minimum legal requirements, it often falls short of genuine sustainability, according to the July 2025 report written by Canada-based forest certification and governance expert Richard Robertson. The analysis was commissioned by five nonprofits: Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), the Global Environmental Forum (GEF), Mighty Earth, Biofuelwatch, and the Environmental Paper Network (EPN). The booming biomass-for-energy industry touts wood pellets and chips as a winning climate solution. But the report notes that this assertion is based on a faulty carbon accounting loophole that counts significant smokestack emissions from biomass as zero. Numerous studies have shown that biomass burning is more carbon-intensive than coal per unit of energy produced. Billions of dollars in green energy subsidies have been paid out by European and Asian nations to the biomass industry, spurring demand for woody biomass and putting pressure on carbon-rich forests in the United States, Canada, Vietnam, South Korea, Europe, Indonesia and elsewhere. Many end-user nations have put their trust in SBP for sustainability certification. But years of criticism from forest advocates and climate experts have led major importers, such as the U.K. and Japan, to tighten sustainability requirements for subsidized&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sustainable-biomass-certification-scheme-is-flawed-degrades-forests-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sustainable-biomass-certification-scheme-is-flawed-degrades-forests-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304702</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Old forests, new fires, and a scientific standoff over active management</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/old-forests-new-fires-and-a-scientific-standoff-over-active-management/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/old-forests-new-fires-and-a-scientific-standoff-over-active-management/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2025 07:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/15160404/marcus-kauffman-iretlQZEU4-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304370</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioenergy, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Dry Forests, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forests, Logging, Sustainable Forest Management, Temperate Forests, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second installment of Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of active management tools for forest fires. Read Part 1. Photographs of forests in the western U.S. from the mid-1800s show a starkly different reality compared to what we see today, says Paul Hessburg, an ecologist and professor at the University of Washington. “It looks nothing like [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second installment of Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of active management tools for forest fires. Read Part 1. Photographs of forests in the western U.S. from the mid-1800s show a starkly different reality compared to what we see today, says Paul Hessburg, an ecologist and professor at the University of Washington. “It looks nothing like the current landscape,” he tells Mongabay. Today, many of these forests are overgrown and dominated by younger trees. Back then, they were typically more open — “park-like,” according to many scientists. They were part of a broader mosaic: conifer-dominated forests mixed with deciduous woodlands, open meadows and wetlands in a patchy broth of diverse habitats. Fire played an integral role — perhaps the integral role — in shaping these ecosystems. But soon, European-descended emigrants to the West shut it down in just about every way they could, with little understanding of the implications. Hessburg and other researchers spend their careers teasing apart these dynamics and looking for ways to replicate those effects through a set of “active management” tools, such as prescribed burning and thinning. Where possible, the goal is often to usher fire back into the landscape at lower intensities to promote regeneration and avoid the catastrophic megafires that have destroyed communities in recent years. In those cases, “The next fire often erases the opportunity for a future forest,” Hessburg says. “It’s so intense that it sterilizes soil [with] such burn severity, and it removes seed sources.” But this embrace of active management isn’t&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/old-forests-new-fires-and-a-scientific-standoff-over-active-management/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304370</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fixing forests or fueling fires? Scientists split over active management</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fixing-forests-or-fueling-fires-scientists-split-over-active-management/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fixing-forests-or-fueling-fires-scientists-split-over-active-management/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2025 22:26:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/11221558/54693585849_0ac719783b_3k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304055</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioenergy, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Dry Forests, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forests, Logging, Sustainable Forest Management, Temperate Forests, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first installment of Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of active management tools for forest fires. Read Part 2. On Sept. 8, 2020, a brush field in southern Oregon, in the northwestern U.S., caught fire. Over the next week, &#8220;walls&#8221; of flame tore through the towns of Talent and Phoenix in the Rogue River Valley. Here, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first installment of Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of active management tools for forest fires. Read Part 2. On Sept. 8, 2020, a brush field in southern Oregon, in the northwestern U.S., caught fire. Over the next week, &#8220;walls&#8221; of flame tore through the towns of Talent and Phoenix in the Rogue River Valley. Here, hot, dry summers crisp low-lying vegetation, and convective winds — like those that kicked up in early September 2020 — can fan the spread of fire from even the smallest ignition. The 1,300-hectare (3,300-acre) Almeda Drive Fire was small by contemporary standards in the U.S. West, where blazes repeatedly shatter records. And this one was human-caused, as are more than 80% of fires in the U.S. But neither statistic made it any less devastating to the families of Talent and Phoenix, more than 2,600 of whom lost their homes to the blaze. Amid a swirling mix of past mismanagement of forests in the western U.S., an explosion of dense settlements, and hotter, drier conditions on account of climate change, there&#8217;s been a push in recent decades to actively manage forests for fire risk — aimed at avoiding disasters like the Almeda fire. The idea is that management tools such as forest thinning, prescribed burning and post-fire restoration can help claw back some of the characteristics of how forests used to be, when fire itself was a more active part of the landscape. The scientific literature is stacked with studies on the nuances of &#8220;active management,&#8221;&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fixing-forests-or-fueling-fires-scientists-split-over-active-management/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fixing-forests-or-fueling-fires-scientists-split-over-active-management/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304055</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian civil society urges probe after payout for mine recovery that never happened</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 07:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhibar Sobary Ardan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/10071442/Rukka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302173</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAMARINDA, Indonesia — The prosecution of a former head of mining in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province could reveal wider misuse of environmental restoration funds across the country’s coal heartland, a prominent environmental lawyer said in June. “I see that there’s the potential for there to be others, so I recommend that law enforcement officers audit [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAMARINDA, Indonesia — The prosecution of a former head of mining in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province could reveal wider misuse of environmental restoration funds across the country’s coal heartland, a prominent environmental lawyer said in June. “I see that there’s the potential for there to be others, so I recommend that law enforcement officers audit all these mining pits,” said Muhammad Muhdar, an environmental lawyer at Mulawarman University in Samarinda, the provincial capital. Last month, the East Kalimantan prosecutor’s office announced it would charge Amrullah, the head of the provincial mining agency, in connection with an alleged decade-old conspiracy pertaining to coal miner CV Arjuna. Located in the east of Borneo Island, East Kalimantan accounts for more coal production than any other province in Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal. Coal production across Indonesia increased to 831 million metric tons in 2024, an all-time high. Amrullah had served as head of the energy and minerals department in East Kalimantan from 2010-2018. Arjuna operated a 1,452-hectare (3,588-acre) coal mine in Makroman village, within the Samarinda city limits, on the east coast of Borneo. The company was required by law to conduct environmental reclamation work to seal the mine on reaching the end of its operating permit. “To my knowledge, this is probably the first case where someone has been charged in relation to corruption of reclamation funds in East Kalimantan,” Muhdar said. “So it would be good for us to jointly monitor the process in order to assist our&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302173</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian utility PLN ‘kneecaps renewables’ with embrace of fossil fuels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2025 03:57:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/17015622/indonesia-coal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300836</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s state-owned power utility has backed away from promises to rapidly expand its use of renewable energy, opting to focus instead on building more power stations that burn fossil fuels. The country’s electricity monopoly, PLN, will expand by more than one-fifth how much electricity it generates from gas and coal by the middle of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s state-owned power utility has backed away from promises to rapidly expand its use of renewable energy, opting to focus instead on building more power stations that burn fossil fuels. The country’s electricity monopoly, PLN, will expand by more than one-fifth how much electricity it generates from gas and coal by the middle of the next decade, according to the company’s Ten-Year Supply Development Plan (RUPTL). While PLN also intends to triple how much electricity it gets from renewable sources, most of the expansion in green energy will need to wait until the early 2030s as the utility struggles to first meet soaring demand for electricity. Indonesia’s grid is, for now, unable to accommodate on-again-off-again renewable energy, the company has said. The question for PLN is “how can renewables, which are indeed variable, and fossil fuel-based power plants be sewn together?” Darmawan Prasodjo, PLN’s president director, told a parliamentary commission last month ahead of the release of the supply blueprint. PLN unveiled a slide presentation of its RUPTL late last month, foreshadowing a massive buildout of solar and other renewable energy over the next 10 years. The biggest initial focus, though, will be new gas- and coal-fired power plants between now and 2029. Renewables will comprise a slightly smaller share of the planned expansion until the end of this decade. But on June 3, the utility published the full version of its 1,200-plus-page electricity supply blueprint which underscored doubts for some analysts that PLN would countenance the country’s shift to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300836</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil bets on macaúba palm to make renewable diesel and aviation biofuel</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2025 17:23:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/21140601/macauba-palm-fruits-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299415</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Biodiesel, Bioenergy, Biofuels, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Drivers Of Deforestation, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Land Use Change, Palm Oil, Plantations, Politics, Pollution, Research, Soy, Transportation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Macaúba palm, also known as macaw palm, grows all over the Americas. Now, a drive by the Brazilian government to incentivize the decarbonization of the transportation and aviation sectors has resulted in numerous companies turning to this palm as a potential feedstock to be refined into liquid biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) across the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Macaúba palm, also known as macaw palm, grows all over the Americas. Now, a drive by the Brazilian government to incentivize the decarbonization of the transportation and aviation sectors has resulted in numerous companies turning to this palm as a potential feedstock to be refined into liquid biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) across the Latin American nation. On paper, macaúba palm appears to be a miracle plant: It thrives on degraded, unproductive land, so won’t compete with food crops or cause new deforestation, and, in testing, it has yields eight to ten times higher than soy, depending on whom you ask. Soybeans already feed Brazil’s vast biofuels industry but, along with sugarcane, soy is tied to environmental harm, especially deforestation and CO2 emissions, and environmental justice issues. According to proponents, macaúba promises to sidestep these issues; it’s already dubbed as “green gold” and “rainforest-friendly palm oil.” But there are significant environmental and financial risk too, say critics. Macaúba’s promotion closely parallels past hype from investors and entrepreneurs who backed a would-be biofuel called jatropha, so offers a cautionary tale. In the 2000s, jatropha — also hailed as “green gold” — ticked many of the same boxes and its boom saw dozens of projects planting the energy crop across the tropics, only to then fail spectacularly, as it proved far more challenging to grow than claimed. The effort cost millions of dollars, and spawned widespread accusations of land grabbing, while resulting in land-use change and biodiversity loss in tropical countries.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299415</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Flawed energy road map may block Indonesia’s coal exit, critics warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2025 10:28:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/23070323/GP0STTAMQ_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299052</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s first road map for its energy transition, focusing on phasing out coal, is riddled with loopholes that will make it difficult for the country to retire its massive fleet of coal-fired power plants, critics say. The road map uses a weighted scoring system to determine which power plants should be prioritized for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s first road map for its energy transition, focusing on phasing out coal, is riddled with loopholes that will make it difficult for the country to retire its massive fleet of coal-fired power plants, critics say. The road map uses a weighted scoring system to determine which power plants should be prioritized for closure or early retirement. But the system gives too much weight to criteria like how much funding has been secured to shutter a plant (27% of the total score) and not enough to factors like emissions (just 9.3% of the score), even though cutting emissions is the primary goal. This approach means that only the lowest-risk plants — those with available donor funding and minimal grid impact — are likely to be retired first, regardless of their carbon emissions, said Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, director of the Centre for Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), a Jakarta-based think tank. “This scoring system would fail most [coal plants from being retired early],” Bhima told reporters in Jakarta. “This road map actually blocks early retirement of coal plants.” The system also overlooks the potential cost savings from retiring old, inefficient, and heavily polluting plants, Bhima added. “If closing a coal plant saves money … shouldn’t that reduce the financial burden?” he asked, questioning the government’s reliance on external funding to shut down aging plants. “If we rely on external funds, given today’s global finance conditions, it’ll be tough,” he said. Even if the funds are available, other criteria, like&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299052</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As renewable diesel surges, sustainability claims are deeply questioned</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-renewable-diesel-surges-sustainability-claims-are-deeply-questioned/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-renewable-diesel-surges-sustainability-claims-are-deeply-questioned/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2025 14:02:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/12093102/Image_6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298931</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, European Union, Global, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Biofuels, Business, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Oil, Politics, Pollution, Renewable Energy, Research, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Renewable diesel is a biofuel made from vegetable oils and animal fats touted by proponents as an almost miraculous “drop-in” transition fuel able to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions while easily replacing fossil diesel in all manner of engines. But this biofuel’s recent sudden surge in production and rapid expansion in applications is alarming environmentalists, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Renewable diesel is a biofuel made from vegetable oils and animal fats touted by proponents as an almost miraculous “drop-in” transition fuel able to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions while easily replacing fossil diesel in all manner of engines. But this biofuel’s recent sudden surge in production and rapid expansion in applications is alarming environmentalists, who warn unfettered growth could fuel climate change and tropical deforestation. Renewable diesel, or RD, can be made from a wide range of feedstocks, including waste vegetable oils, animal tallow, corn, canola (rapeseed), soy and oil palm. The feedstock used, where and how it is produced, and whether forests are felled to make way for biofuel crops, all determine RD’s carbon emissions as compared to fossil diesel. RD is often manufactured in retooled fossil fuel refineries using complex biochemical and thermochemical technologies requiring lots of energy — adding to its carbon footprint. Chevron, BP, Shell and other major fossil fuel companies are now converting excess refinery capacity to make RD and enter the market in a big way. A freight train in the U.K. run on renewable diesel. Replacing red diesel (fossil diesel specifically earmarked for rail or agricultural vehicles) with RD can cut a train’s emissions by “as much as 90%,” according to the industry. But such claims can be erroneous since some feedstocks have high carbon intensity (such as oil palm) over others (like used cooking oil). Image by Rob Reedman via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). A big selling point for renewable diesel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-renewable-diesel-surges-sustainability-claims-are-deeply-questioned/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298931</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wood pellet maker Drax denied pollution permit after small town Mississippi outcry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/wood-pellet-maker-drax-denied-pollution-permit-after-small-town-mississippi-outcry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/wood-pellet-maker-drax-denied-pollution-permit-after-small-town-mississippi-outcry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 May 2025 13:33:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/24104400/0-Banner-image-Mississippi-Capitol-Day-Group-Photo-by-Sophia-Knight-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298458</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Bioenergy, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Industry, Logging, Politics, Pollution, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jimmy Brown has lived less than a mile from the Drax wood pellet manufacturing plant in the tiny town of Gloster in Amite County, Mississippi, since it opened in 2016. The impact on his quality of life, and often his health, was the same then as it is now. “It’s terrible,” Brown told Mongabay. “You [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jimmy Brown has lived less than a mile from the Drax wood pellet manufacturing plant in the tiny town of Gloster in Amite County, Mississippi, since it opened in 2016. The impact on his quality of life, and often his health, was the same then as it is now. “It’s terrible,” Brown told Mongabay. “You got dust falling all night. You got constant noise from the plant. You got odor. You got truck traffic [carrying tons of trees and chipped wood] all day, every day. That’s what a lot of people don’t understand. It’s nonstop.” On April 8, during a three-hour hearing in the state capital of Jackson, Brown, along with about 50 of his neighbors, made the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s (MDEQ) Permit Board understand his and Gloster’s plight. The board voted 5-1 to deny Drax’s request to be reclassified from a minor to a major source of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs). An approval would have enabled Drax — permitted to make 500,000 metric tons of wood pellets annually at its Amite plant — to hit that annual production target and not incur millions of dollars in future fines for violating Mississippi air pollution restrictions. The Gloster plant is among the largest forest biomass-for-energy pellet production facilities in the world. Drax has twice previously been fined by MDEQ for such violations: $2.5 million in 2020 —one of the largest air-pollution fines in state history — for underestimating hazardous pollutants emitted since the mill’s 2016 opening. It was again&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/wood-pellet-maker-drax-denied-pollution-permit-after-small-town-mississippi-outcry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298458</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ground-level ozone pollution poses growing threat to planetary health</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/ground-level-ozone-pollution-poses-growing-threat-to-planetary-health/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/ground-level-ozone-pollution-poses-growing-threat-to-planetary-health/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2025 15:14:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/02110718/10-B-A-N-A-N-A-S-Uganda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296897</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Bioenergy, Climate Change, Climate Science, Crops, Earth Science, Fires, forest degradation, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Health, Heatwave, Mitigation, Ozone Layer, Planetary Health, Politics, Pollution, Precipitation, Public Health, Science, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Kilometers above the Earth’s surface, the ozone layer protects humanity and all life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. But in the troposphere, at ground level, this gas can wreak havoc on planetary health in myriad ways. As temperatures increase due to climate change, the ozone problem is forecast to worsen in many parts of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Kilometers above the Earth’s surface, the ozone layer protects humanity and all life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. But in the troposphere, at ground level, this gas can wreak havoc on planetary health in myriad ways. As temperatures increase due to climate change, the ozone problem is forecast to worsen in many parts of the world — including heavily populated urban and rural areas in the tropics. Ground-level zone isn’t a direct emission; it’s created when precursors such as methane, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds react together with sunlight. These precursors include many anthropogenic sources — especially the burning of fossil fuels (in vehicles, by industry and at power plants) and via agriculture and wildfires, all of which crank up tropospheric ozone levels. “The problem with ozone is it&#8217;s an incredibly active molecule and somewhat unstable in the environment. It interacts with everything it touches,” Nathan Borgford-Parnell, coordinator of the Scientific Advisory Panel and Science Affairs at the Climate &amp; Clean Air Coalition, told Mongabay in an interview. That makes tropospheric ozone a planetary health problem that threatens human health, food security and biodiversity. “The concerns are quite legion,” says Borgford-Parnell. Ground-level ozone pollution is getting worse due to what experts have dubbed the “ozone-climate penalty.” Though ozone’s formation is complex, it is closely tied to higher temperatures. That’s why the problem generally peaks in warmer months; which was true in 2024 — officially the hottest year on record, with ozone pollution spiking during European summer&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/ground-level-ozone-pollution-poses-growing-threat-to-planetary-health/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/ground-level-ozone-pollution-poses-growing-threat-to-planetary-health/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296897</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Netherlands’ largest forest biomass plant canceled, forest advocates elated</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/netherlands-largest-forest-biomass-plant-canceled-forest-advocates-elated/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/netherlands-largest-forest-biomass-plant-canceled-forest-advocates-elated/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2025 15:31:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/27072832/1-Fenna-Swart-en-Maarten-Visschers-outside-Vattenfall-hq-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296576</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Netherlands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Industry, Logging, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dutch forest campaigners are claiming a significant victory over one of the Netherlands’ top energy providers, Vattenfall, after the company decided in late February to cancel plans to build the nation’s largest wood pellet burning plant for energy. “This is enormous,” said Fenna Swart, leader of the Clean Air Committee, a Dutch forest advocacy group [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dutch forest campaigners are claiming a significant victory over one of the Netherlands’ top energy providers, Vattenfall, after the company decided in late February to cancel plans to build the nation’s largest wood pellet burning plant for energy. “This is enormous,” said Fenna Swart, leader of the Clean Air Committee, a Dutch forest advocacy group that has aggressively opposed Vattenfall’s plans since 2019 in the court of law and public opinion. “This is a great victory for our forests and biodiversity. After six years, [we] have succeeded in stopping this mega biomass power plant by the multinational Vattenfall.” The Sweden-based company, the Netherlands’ third-largest energy producer, first sought a permit in 2018 to build the 120-megawatt power plant using only forest biomass to generate energy. The facility, to be built just outside Amsterdam, would have powered up to 24,000 homes in exchange for 395 million euros ($424.8 million) in subsidies pledged by the Dutch government. Research has consistently shown that the burning of wood pellets produces more carbon emissions per unit of energy than coal, despite claims by the industry that forest biomass is a renewable, carbon-neutral energy source because trees can be regrown. Swart said her group will lobby Dutch legislators to apply the subsidies earmarked for Vattenfall for forest conservation. However, the conservative national leadership in Amsterdam appears intent on promoting policies that continue to support forest biomass burning as a means of phasing out its remaining coal-fired plants. According to Biomass Magazine, an industry trade publication, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/netherlands-largest-forest-biomass-plant-canceled-forest-advocates-elated/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/netherlands-largest-forest-biomass-plant-canceled-forest-advocates-elated/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296576</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chauffeur at Indonesia energy nonprofit drives uptake of biogas by Java farmers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chauffeur-at-indonesia-energy-nonprofit-drives-uptake-of-biogas-by-java-farmers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chauffeur-at-indonesia-energy-nonprofit-drives-uptake-of-biogas-by-java-farmers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2025 07:55:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Toto Sudiarjo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/13070548/biogas-man-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295717</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Biofuels, Clean Energy, Community-based Conservation, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Natural Gas, Natural Resources, Nature-based climate solutions, Pollution, Renewable Energy, Solutions, Sustainability, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SLEMAN, Indonesia — A decade ago, Suyono’s neighbors found his antics collecting the goat and quail droppings outside his home verging on the strange. Today, it’s become the norm in many households in Minggir, a Javanese village producing its own gas. “A lot of people just laughed,” Suyono, 50, told Mongabay Indonesia. “‘Um, pak, you [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SLEMAN, Indonesia — A decade ago, Suyono’s neighbors found his antics collecting the goat and quail droppings outside his home verging on the strange. Today, it’s become the norm in many households in Minggir, a Javanese village producing its own gas. “A lot of people just laughed,” Suyono, 50, told Mongabay Indonesia. “‘Um, pak, you can just buy it [gas] at the food stall.’” In 2014, after a period living abroad in Malaysia as a low-paid migrant worker, Suyono returned home to Minggir village, which is located a few kilometers west of the city of Yogyakarta. Once settled, he took a job as a driver at Yayasan Rumah Energi, a foundation that works on household renewable energy projects, like biogas. Biogas is produced via anaerobic digestion, where microorganisms break down animal manure, biological waste or plant residues in a sealed environment deprived of oxygen. The chemical reaction produces methane and other gases, which can be burned as alternatives to propane and butane cylinders, which governments burn billions of dollars a year on subsidizing (and whose price is determined by international markets). Chauffeuring Yayasan Rumah Energi staff sparked Suyono’s interest in the foundation’s work on biogas. After studying the basics, Suyono went to work and began producing around 1.8 kilograms (4 pounds) at a time. Within a few years, people increasingly began asking Suyono for help installing biogas infrastructure at local Islamic boarding schools and in nearby homes. Later, he helped build 500 units in farther-flung East Nusa Tenggara province. Yayasan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chauffeur-at-indonesia-energy-nonprofit-drives-uptake-of-biogas-by-java-farmers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chauffeur-at-indonesia-energy-nonprofit-drives-uptake-of-biogas-by-java-farmers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295717</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest biomass growth to soar through 2030, impacting tropical forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/forest-biomass-growth-to-soar-through-2030-impacting-tropical-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/forest-biomass-growth-to-soar-through-2030-impacting-tropical-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Mar 2025 19:57:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/13130049/FEATURED-co-768x453.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295414</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Industry, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The harvesting and burning of forest biomass to produce energy continues to surge, according to a new report on near-term global production and demand for wood pellets. This growth comes despite scientists’ warnings of the industry’s harm to the climate and its contribution to deforestation — increasingly in the tropics. It comes even as forest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The harvesting and burning of forest biomass to produce energy continues to surge, according to a new report on near-term global production and demand for wood pellets. This growth comes despite scientists’ warnings of the industry’s harm to the climate and its contribution to deforestation — increasingly in the tropics. It comes even as forest advocates score early wins in their efforts to derail what scientists call an unsustainable form of bioenergy. The numbers are stark, according to the new report. By 2030, the supply of forest biomass for energy is projected to triple compared to 2021, after expanding by 50% between 2010 and 2021. That jump in wood pellet production to meet global demand will require a 13-fold increase in monoculture biomass plantations from current levels, especially in Southeast Asia. The ongoing conversion of native tropical forests to short-rotation plantations for crops, timber and wood pellets will continue being a significant driver of global deforestation. The report, titled Burning Up the Biosphere, offers what it calls “a global threat map of biomass energy development.” It was produced by the Biomass Action Network of the Environmental Paper Network (EPN), an international forest advocacy group. The map and projections are based on data produced by the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net Zero Scenario study. Estimate of global wood pellet production and use in metric tons by nation by 2030. Data sourced from the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Scenario study. Image courtesy of the Environmental Paper Network. In a move viewed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/forest-biomass-growth-to-soar-through-2030-impacting-tropical-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/forest-biomass-growth-to-soar-through-2030-impacting-tropical-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295414</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fashion has a coal problem, but the solutions are electrifying (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/fashion-has-a-coal-problem-but-the-solutions-are-increasingly-electric-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/fashion-has-a-coal-problem-but-the-solutions-are-increasingly-electric-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jan 2025 20:42:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Ford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/11080641/Garment-Deforestation_Mongabay_Andy-Ball_Story-2_8-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293533</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Business, Circular Economy, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, International Trade, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Garment factories burning coal is bad, and must stop. The fashion industry has largely aligned on this fact by now, with most high street brands (absent Patagonia, PVH, C&#38;A and some others) having signed the UNFCCC’s Fashion Charter commitment to no onsite burning of coal at factories supplying T1 (final assembly and packing) and T2 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Garment factories burning coal is bad, and must stop. The fashion industry has largely aligned on this fact by now, with most high street brands (absent Patagonia, PVH, C&amp;A and some others) having signed the UNFCCC’s Fashion Charter commitment to no onsite burning of coal at factories supplying T1 (final assembly and packing) and T2 (fabric, washing, dying and various other processes) by 2030. A handful of brands – H&amp;M Group, Ralph Lauren, Decathlon and Adidas – are working to remove coal in 2025. A few others are prioritizing action at the T1 level where coal demand is smallest, where alternatives to produce the heat for ironing and other small processes are already available, and where brands have the most oversight and leverage. But how this replacement of coal is happening across the industry is not subject to any real alignment or oversight. Replacing coal with lower carbon alternatives has been ongoing for a few years now – for example, H&amp;M Group communicated with all T1 and T2 supplying factories in late 2021 – but now global brands slowly start to react to the public commitments they have made, sometimes aided by vocal scrutiny from groups such as Stand.Earth (and their campaign against Lululemon’s coal usage), and Fashion Revolution’s annual reporting. Thankfully, very few brands of note are walking back on their commitments. Corn husks from local farms that replace coal in a garment factory’s boilers in Pakistan. Image courtesy of Peter Ford. In some of the countries where clothing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/fashion-has-a-coal-problem-but-the-solutions-are-increasingly-electric-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/fashion-has-a-coal-problem-but-the-solutions-are-increasingly-electric-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293533</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian forestry minister proposes 20m hectares of deforestation for crops</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-forestry-minister-proposes-20m-hectares-of-deforestation-for-crops/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-forestry-minister-proposes-20m-hectares-of-deforestation-for-crops/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jan 2025 14:54:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/31195035/raja-ampat_240568-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292788</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Food, food security, Food Vs Forests Debate, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — An Indonesian government plan to clear forests spanning an area twice the size of South Korea for food and biofuel crops has sparked fears of massive greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. The country’s forestry minister, Raja Juli Antoni, announced on Dec. 30, 2024, that his office had identified forest areas spanning 20 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — An Indonesian government plan to clear forests spanning an area twice the size of South Korea for food and biofuel crops has sparked fears of massive greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. The country’s forestry minister, Raja Juli Antoni, announced on Dec. 30, 2024, that his office had identified forest areas spanning 20 million hectares (50 million acres) for potential conversion into “food and energy estates.” The announcement triggered an immediate backlash, as similar food estate programs in the past have failed, often leaving a legacy of environmental destruction. Indonesia has the world’s third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest, after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and such a vast amount of deforestation would deal a major blow to global efforts of limiting global warming, said Amalya Reza Oktaviani, bioenergy campaign manager at the NGO Trend Asia. The clearing of 20 million hectares of forests could release up to 22 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the annual emissions from nearly 5,300 coal-fired power plants. “This [food and energy estate plan] shows how the government doesn’t have a commitment to reforest and rehabilitate natural forests,” Amalya said. “In reality, we don’t have the luxury of deforesting amid the climate crisis.” Yet the plan aligns with the platform of President Prabowo Subianto, who has prioritized achieving both food and energy self-sufficiency as cornerstones of his administration. Since his election campaign in late 2023 and early 2024, Prabowo has emphasized the need for Indonesia to achieve sovereignty in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-forestry-minister-proposes-20m-hectares-of-deforestation-for-crops/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-forestry-minister-proposes-20m-hectares-of-deforestation-for-crops/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292788</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Korea slashes forest biomass energy subsidies in major policy reform</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/south-korea-slashes-forest-biomass-energy-subsidies-in-major-policy-reform/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/south-korea-slashes-forest-biomass-energy-subsidies-in-major-policy-reform/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Dec 2024 15:12:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/11142502/1.-Hadong-coal-power-plant-biomass-co-fired-courtesy-of-Solutions-for-Our-Climate-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292113</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Governance, Logging, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a major policy shift, South Korea announced Dec. 18 that it will end renewable energy subsidies for new biomass projects, as well as for state-owned coal and biomass cofired power plants starting in January 2025. The nation’s ministries also committed to phased reductions of subsidies supporting existing power plants using imported forest biomass fuel. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a major policy shift, South Korea announced Dec. 18 that it will end renewable energy subsidies for new biomass projects, as well as for state-owned coal and biomass cofired power plants starting in January 2025. The nation’s ministries also committed to phased reductions of subsidies supporting existing power plants using imported forest biomass fuel. The abrupt change is “the largest [biomass] policy rollback of its kind in Asia,” according to South Korean environmental nonprofit Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), and also among the largest policy shifts away from forest biomass subsidies by any nation worldwide. South Korea is currently Asia’s second-largest user of forest biomass for energy, importing 3.9 million metric tons of wood pellets as of April 2024. Scientists and forest advocates have long asserted that burning forest biomass to generate electricity isn’t carbon neutral, but creates more carbon emissions than coal per unit of energy produced, while the manufacture of wood pellets, a type of biomass fuel, causes deforestation and negatively impacts forest biodiversity. Although South Korea will continue to subsidize biomass fuel sourced domestically, advocates say they hope that reducing support for imported biomass will help alleviate pressure on forests threatened by Asia’s growing biomass market — particularly tropical forests in Southeast Asia. Tanks used to store biomass fuel at a biomass power plant in Okinawa prefecture, Japan. Advocates say they hope Japan will take similar steps as South Korea to wind down existing biomass subsidies. Image by Annelise Giseburt. ‘A step in the right direction’&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/south-korea-slashes-forest-biomass-energy-subsidies-in-major-policy-reform/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/south-korea-slashes-forest-biomass-energy-subsidies-in-major-policy-reform/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292113</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian forests put at risk by South Korean and Japanese biomass subsidies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2024 15:22:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/12124920/INFIS_0481_0526-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291498</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy, Global Forests, Indonesian Forests, and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Global Warming, Globalization, Governance, Greenwashing, International Trade, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biomass energy subsidies in South Korea and Japan are threatening Southeast Asia’s tropical forests, warns a new report by environmental NGOs. Of particular concern is the nascent but rapidly growing woody biomass industry in Indonesia, where rainforests are already being cleared to make wood pellets to be burned for electricity. The report, published in October [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biomass energy subsidies in South Korea and Japan are threatening Southeast Asia’s tropical forests, warns a new report by environmental NGOs. Of particular concern is the nascent but rapidly growing woody biomass industry in Indonesia, where rainforests are already being cleared to make wood pellets to be burned for electricity. The report, published in October by Earth Insight, Auriga Nusantara, Forest Watch Indonesia, Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), Trend Asia, and Mighty Earth, notes that South Korea received around 62% and Japan 38% of Indonesian wood pellet exports over 2021-2023. During that same period, Indonesian wood biomass export volumes grew by orders of magnitude, rising from a trickle of just over 100 metric tons annually to more than 1,000 times that. However, Indonesia’s biomass production isn’t only for export. Thanks to the support of Japanese businesses and government institutions, Indonesia has begun burning wood pellets alongside coal in many of its own power plants, a practice known as cofiring, in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (at least on paper). Plans to further expand in-country biomass use are in the works. Meanwhile, deforestation for biomass projects has already arisen in the country’s Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua regions. Ipu Angit, a Dayak Punan from Indonesia&#8217;s North Kalimantan province, is struggling to protect the forest he calls home from a company that wants to clear it to make way for a wood pellet plantation. Image by Nanang Sujana for Mongabay. The forest in Ipu Angit&#8217;s village, Laban Nyarit, could be demolished&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesian-forests-put-at-risk-by-south-korean-and-japanese-biomass-subsidies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291498</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Action against forest biomass subsidies gains momentum at COP16</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/action-against-forest-biomass-subsidies-gains-momentum-at-cop16/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/action-against-forest-biomass-subsidies-gains-momentum-at-cop16/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2024 14:55:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/29131303/Drax-is-the-largest-consumer-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289353</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiesel, Biodiversity, Bioenergy, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Industry, Planetary Boundaries, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CALI, Colombia – For years, at annual United Nations climate summits, forest advocates eager to draw critical attention to the scientifically dubious benefits of burning forest biomass to make energy were ignored, and their recommendations never added to official UN agendas for discussion or a vote. But here at the UN Biodiversity summit, known as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CALI, Colombia – For years, at annual United Nations climate summits, forest advocates eager to draw critical attention to the scientifically dubious benefits of burning forest biomass to make energy were ignored, and their recommendations never added to official UN agendas for discussion or a vote. But here at the UN Biodiversity summit, known as COP16, forest campaigners have attained some traction as national representatives — dedicated to addressing biodiversity loss and global deforestation — hear about how wood pellet production and biomass burning are tied intrinsically to both problems. On October 21, the first day of COP16, the Biomass Action network, a coalition of 200 civil society groups in 60 countries, held a series of events (including in Cali) to highlight research and evidence of environmental harm caused by harvesting trees for wood-pellet manufacture, and the burning of those pellets in former coal-fired power plants. This broadening awareness comes at a crucial moment: The demand for forest biomass energy is surging in the United Kingdom, European Union, Japan and South Korea, where national governments erroneously claim burning pellets produces zero emissions. Meanwhile, the supply of pellets to meet that demand (so far sourced mostly from forests in the Southeastern United States and British Columbia, Canada), is expanding rapidly into the tropics, with new pellet mills planned and opening in Vietnam and especially Indonesia. The clear cutting of forests to supply biomass is happening despite a rapidly escalating climate crisis in which intact forests — with their ability to store&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/action-against-forest-biomass-subsidies-gains-momentum-at-cop16/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/action-against-forest-biomass-subsidies-gains-momentum-at-cop16/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289353</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global biodiversity financiers strategize at COP16 to end ‘perverse subsidies’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/global-biodiversity-financiers-strategize-at-cop16-to-end-perverse-subsidies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/global-biodiversity-financiers-strategize-at-cop16-to-end-perverse-subsidies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2024 15:25:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/28141913/The_Blue_Marble_5052124705-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289264</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Bioenergy, Business, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, International Trade, Politics, and Subsidies]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CALI, Colombia — At COP16, an international conference here on the edge of the Amazon that is devoted to enacting plans to protect forests, oceans and the biodiversity living in both, a staggering financial reality took center stage in a day-long event Sunday: Each year, wealthy countries and large institutional lenders devote $1.7 trillion in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CALI, Colombia — At COP16, an international conference here on the edge of the Amazon that is devoted to enacting plans to protect forests, oceans and the biodiversity living in both, a staggering financial reality took center stage in a day-long event Sunday: Each year, wealthy countries and large institutional lenders devote $1.7 trillion in subsidies, tax incentives and tax breaks that damage or destroy nature while directing just one-quarter of that amount to conserving or restoring the natural world, according to World Wildlife Fund. At the start of the final week of the 16th biennial United Nations Biodiversity Conference, known as COP16, attendees are hearing unusually bold talk and high ambition focused on the typically off-limits notion of reducing and eliminating so-called “perverse subsidies.” What’s a “perverse subsidy? Here’s one example: the $640 billion provided annually to the fossil fuel industry that has generated enormous profits for that industry and economic prosperity largely for the Global North, while simultaneously creating the conditions for global warming, ruinous weather disasters, runaway deforestation and record species extinctions. That’s $640 billion every year given as a gift by wealthy governments to oil, gas and coal companies that are actively resisting steps to avoid climate catastrophe. That’s a government giveaway to fund global greenhouse gas emissions that soared to a record 57 gigatons last year, according to the just-released 2024 U.N. Emissions Gap Report. According to the report, Earth is on a path to heat up by an estimated 2.6° Celsius (4.7° Fahrenheit) by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/global-biodiversity-financiers-strategize-at-cop16-to-end-perverse-subsidies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289264</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia biomass zone for Japan and S. Korea energy razes rainforest in Sulawesi</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/indonesia-biomass-zone-for-japan-and-s-korea-energy-razes-rainforest-in-sulawesi/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/indonesia-biomass-zone-for-japan-and-s-korea-energy-razes-rainforest-in-sulawesi/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2024 04:12:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarjan Lahay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/25095631/tarsiers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289204</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bioenergy, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Governance, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POHUWATO, Indonesia — Heavy trucks roll toward a semiremote coastline here on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island before idling alongside a waiting barge, which will later make a vast shipment of wood pellets to Japan and South Korea. The shipping terminal was built by PT Biomasa Jaya Abadi (BJA), an Indonesian firm with ambitions to become a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POHUWATO, Indonesia — Heavy trucks roll toward a semiremote coastline here on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island before idling alongside a waiting barge, which will later make a vast shipment of wood pellets to Japan and South Korea. The shipping terminal was built by PT Biomasa Jaya Abadi (BJA), an Indonesian firm with ambitions to become a global leader in the trade of wood pellets, which are increasingly burned alongside coal in power plants by countries trying to cut back on fossil fuels. BJA trumpets its green credentials, writing on its website that it “embrac[es] biomass as a renewable energy source, emphasizing its role in reducing carbon emissions and fostering sustainability.” However, the lofty talk masks a more carbon-intensive reality: BJA’s wood pellets came from the clear-cutting of more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of Sulawesi rainforest. It’s just the latest example of deforestation-for-biomass-energy in Indonesia, with similar cases emerging in North Kalimantan and South Papua provinces. BJA is one of seven Indonesian companies exporting wood pellets. At the same time, Indonesia has established its own targets for raising production of biomass energy, derived from burning organic materials such as wood chips. While the Southeast Asian nation currently relies on coal to generate two-thirds of its own electricity, it has committed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 31.9% before 2030. Planned improvements in the land-use sector, such as rules restricting new plantations on carbon-rich peatlands, account for most of Indonesia’s anticipated&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/indonesia-biomass-zone-for-japan-and-s-korea-energy-razes-rainforest-in-sulawesi/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289204</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New survey puts human face on pollution caused by U.S. wood pellet mills</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/new-survey-puts-human-face-on-pollution-caused-by-u-s-wood-pellet-mills/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/new-survey-puts-human-face-on-pollution-caused-by-u-s-wood-pellet-mills/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2024 14:37:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/24104400/0-Banner-image-Mississippi-Capitol-Day-Group-Photo-by-Sophia-Knight-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289154</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Bioenergy, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industry, Logging, Politics, Pollution, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forest biomass companies working in the U.S. Southeast in 2023 produced 9.54 million metric tons of wood pellets for export at their 28 mills scattered across the region. That’s a 5.7% increase over 2022. And there’s no end in sight for the sector’s growth — with new U.S. mills planned for the Deep South and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forest biomass companies working in the U.S. Southeast in 2023 produced 9.54 million metric tons of wood pellets for export at their 28 mills scattered across the region. That’s a 5.7% increase over 2022. And there’s no end in sight for the sector’s growth — with new U.S. mills planned for the Deep South and even California. While the pellets are an environmentally controversial substitute for coal burned in overseas power plants, awareness is also growing that biomass manufacture poses a public health threat in the mostly poor, rural, minority U.S. communities where the mills operate within a 10-state arc stretching from southern Virginia to Louisiana. A 2023 study, for example, found that wood pellet mills emit 2.8 times more pollution than coal and oil-burning power plants on average. The mills emit 55 toxic pollutants ranging from nitrogen oxide to volatile organic compounds that disproportionately impact so-called environmental justice communities. Now, a first-of-its-kind survey of 312 households in five of those communities tells a collective personal story of diminished quality of life and degraded health suffered by residents living near the mills. The door-to-door survey was conducted by a coalition of NGOs that included the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), the Dogwood Alliance and other forest protection organizations, along with community groups such as the People’s Justice Council and the Environmental Justice Action Research Clinic. “The results of this groundbreaking survey confirm what we have known for years: Biomass wood pellet plants do incredible amounts of harm to nearby communities,”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/new-survey-puts-human-face-on-pollution-caused-by-u-s-wood-pellet-mills/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289154</doi>				</item>
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