Published on 10/28/2024
min read
By encouraging forestry operators to use branches previously left behind, and by encroaching on timber, wood energy (i.e. pellets) represents a threat to the French forest, according to the collective’s report ” For an ecological awakening “. However, wood pellets are the least taxed, most local energy, one of the least carbon-intensive, and often the least expensive. Are we shooting at the ambulance again?
Pellet, an energy source promoting ecological transition and carbon neutrality, really?
More than 200,000. This is the number of pellet stoves which is sold every year in France. A figure which shows the renewed interest in wood energy, a simple, local and carbon-free solution. Today, more than 2 million French homes heat with pellets at home.
The main reasons for this success? First, the prices and savings that this energy source allows. A ton of wood pellets sells for around €350, or 7 cents per kWh. 30% cheaper than gas, 3 times cheaper than electricity (see orders of magnitude). Its ecological dimension and environmentally friendly also comes into play. Indeed, the European RED II/RED III directives on renewable energies state that wood combustion is carbon neutral. Only its processing and distribution activities emit CO2.
But the judgment ofassociation « For an ecological awakening » towards wood energy is harsh. Created at the end of 2018, it is a collective working in favor of a socio-ecological transition. In October 2024, he published a report on wood energy (BE), conclusion of a year of work and interviews with multiple players in the sector (forestry experts, industrialists, public authorities, etc.). The authors assert that the development of wood energy is encroaching on wood industry (paper, cardboard, insulating panels) and lumber (construction). And this, even though industrial wood and lumber have a better carbon footprint than wood energy.
So, wood, first biomass mobilized in France for energy purposes »would not be that ecologically virtuous. And this, whether it is burned in the form of logs, chips or pellets. For the authors, its use in wood industry (BI)or the production of transformed products, is preferable. The reason:
- if wood energy and biomass boilers emit CO2;
- the use of wood in BI, to build an insulating wood panel for example, does not have this defect. The carbon stored in the panel remains there and does not negatively impact the atmosphere.
At the ecological level, “ the BI outlet will be strictly better from a carbon point of view compared to BE », note the authors.
« The good health of our forests » threatened by the race for pellets, denounces the report
The wood energy and wood industry sectors feed on cuts called thinning or improvement. They must allow other trees to grow to ultimately produce lumber (BO)intended for “noble” uses of wood. Historically, wood energy is only a complement to BI. Gold, in certain regions, the proportion of the energy sector is already much higher that the industryas :
- in Hauts-de-France;
- in the west (Normandy, Brittany, Pays de la Loire);
- in Île-de-France;
- in PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur).
One element explains this according to the report: the fact that the BE benefits from 50% of all public subsidies granted to the timber sector. Support that its authors consider disproportionate. However, the National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC) has already planned a approximately 100% increase in biomass in 2050 compared to 2015including 60% in forest chips. Thus, the number of wood-heated homes is expected to increase from 7 million today to 10 million by 2035.
A development which is not without raising questions about the future of French forests. In fact, the growth in demand for pellets and BEto replace gas or oil boilers, has a major impact. That ofincrease thinning or improvement cuts carried out specifically for this purpose, and not to promote lumber.
Another problem: during felling, owners traditionally leave part of the wood in the forest. Between leaves, bark and fine branches, the trunks remaining on site decompose and provide many minerals particularly beneficial for soils ». All this material therefore makes it possible to “ nourish the soil ”, according to the testimony of an expert interviewed by the authors of the report. Not to mention that this decomposition process is a fundamental pillar supporting the forest biodiversitywith 10,000 species of organisms residing there:
- mushrooms;
- beetles;
- insects;
- moss…
Increasingly valued financially, wood energy now often even concerns the crown, which reduces the volume of branches left behind after cutting, and therefore the fertility of forest areas. This movement thus endangers “ the stability of the good health of our forests », Estimates another cited expert. This is why, for the report, the wood used as BE “ should be seen as products marketed in a related way “. In other words, he must above all not become the main objective of managed stands » in the forest.
Projects for mega-pellet factories face opposition from activists and associations
Another problem weighing on the forest due to the boom in wood energy production: the increase in the weight of the machines used. Its use:
- « induces compaction of agricultural and forestry soils;
- which degrades their biological functioning in the long term and […] their fertility ».
What would be better for the forest environment? The use of lighter machines. However, these are synonymous with lower yields and higher operating costs, which explains the ever-increasing use of heavy machinery.
With the current dynamic, what will remain of our forests and their rich ecosystems in the future? In Creuse, the bearer of a mega-sawmill project plans to take an additional 180,000 hectares of wood, 80% of which will be in deciduous forests. Other logging avenues for the BE and BI sector are under study or in the development phase, in the Pyrenees or the southwest in particular. Bruno Doucet, of the Canopée association, observes that “ state of health [de la ressource forestière] deteriorates quickly ».
In Corrèze, it is the project to expand a wood pellet mega-factory which provokes strong opposition. A recent demonstration even brought together 2,500 people. “ Thousands of hectares will be taken each year and therefore ecosystems destroyed. », Says Thibault Évin, its spokesperson. In his eyes, « these megaprojects are deforestation machines ».
For their part, defenders of mega-factories argue that the pellets come from:
- 95% sawmill residues and sawdust;
- and only 5% of logging.
However, it remains true that the volumes of BE marketed have been multiplied by 2 in 10 years. According to Reporterre, they now represent 68% of wood harvestedwhile the share of timber continues to melt. Thus, the director of Canopée, Sylvain Angerand, fears with all these projects “ unsustainable pressure on forests ».
Fear also shared by the collective “ For an ecological awakening » which warns of risks :
- of a scarcity of dead wood in the forest;
- d’« a incentive to take a larger quantity of wood than necessary pour […] satisfy demand »
- of price increases in the event of shortages in some remote areas. During the winter of 2022-23, the price of wood pellets exceeded €500 per tonne.
This is why the last part of the report is devoted to a series of proposals on pellets and for safeguarding French forests.
- The main proposals of “ For an ecological awakening » :
- Remove subsidies for wood boilers from ADEME to create a new fund supporting the uses of wood as a whole ;
- Submit tomandatory advisory opinion of regional forestry experts for any new installation consuming forest chips;
- Helping investments and the production of wooden panels and insulation, necessary for the energy renovation of housing to be carried out;
- Tax online commerce moreconsuming a lot of cardboard packaging and paper pulp made from wood, in order to preserve forest resources;
- Encourage investment aid for the mechanization of light machinery and improve forestry training. The goal: strengthen the resilience of forests and protect their ecological functionalities.
We therefore expect public authorities to clarify the national policy on wood energy, in order to give visibility to the sector. It is also important for individuals who invest considerable sums to equip themselves with a boiler or stove, convinced that they are acting for the good of the environment!
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