Playing With Fire

The report 'Playing With Fire' by Sandbag assesses plans to convert European coal power stations to burn biomass, primarily wood pellets. It argues that these conversions, driven by EU legislation and subsidies, risk accelerating climate change due to long carbon payback periods and significant forest loss, while providing minimal electricity relative to the cost and environmental impact.

• Proposed coal-to-biomass projects in the EU could increase annual biomass consumption by 607 petajoules (PJ), which is equivalent to five new Drax power stations. This would potentially triple biomass burning in current and former coal power plants compared to current levels.
• Meeting the demand for these projects would require 36 million tonnes (MT) of wood pellets annually, a volume similar to current global production. If sourced from the U.S. south, this would necessitate cutting down approximately 2,700km2 of forest every year, an area equivalent to half of Germany's Black Forest or most of the forest in the Netherlands.
• The identified coal-to-biomass projects would produce 64 TWh of electricity, representing less than 2% of the EU's total electricity production. This output is comparable to the amount of new wind and solar capacity Europe adds annually, which is often effectively subsidy-free.
• Burning biomass in these projects would emit approximately 67 MT of CO2 per year, which is equal to half of the emissions from coal power stations in Poland. The report notes that this CO2 is unlikely to be reabsorbed by regrowth within the timescales necessary to meet Paris Agreement commitments.
• The potential growth in biomass burning is concentrated in five countries: Finland, Germany, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands, with the Netherlands alone accounting for 25% of the potential growth. Five operators—RWE, EDP España, ESB Group, Riverstone, and Vattenfall—are responsible for over half of the potential increase.
• Out of 67 identified coal-to-biomass projects, just 10 projects account for more than half of the total potential biomass burn. Seven of these ten are electricity-only projects with efficiencies likely below 40%, which the report describes as 'staggeringly wasteful' compared to purpose-built biomass CHPs that can exceed 80% efficiency.

APA

Ember (n.d.). Playing With Fire. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2019/12/Ember-Playing-With-Fire-2019.pdf

Chicago

Ember. Playing With Fire. n.d. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2019/12/Ember-Playing-With-Fire-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Playing With Fire |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2019/12/Ember-Playing-With-Fire-2019.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{emberndplaying, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Playing With Fire}}, institution = {Ember}, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2019/12/Ember-Playing-With-Fire-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }