Coal exit must not entail support of the false solution of wood bioenergy

The Asia Pacific Regional Biomass Working Group and associated organizations issued a letter to the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on October 19, 2023, arguing that the ADB's support for wood bioenergy and the 'repurposing' of coal plants constitutes a 'false solution' that undermines the phase-out of fossil fuels and threatens biodiversity and indigenous rights.

• The ADB's energy policy is criticized for supporting biofuels, carbon capture, use and storage, and bioenergy feedstock, which the authors claim dilutes the principle of a just energy transition and fails to support a 1.5-degree Celsius pathway under the Paris Agreement.
• The use of woody biomass for energy is described as a 'false solution' because burning wood releases as much or more carbon than burning coal, and the carbon recovery from forest regrowth occurs over decades or centuries, falling outside Paris Agreement timeframes.
• The authors express concern that the term 'repurposing' in the ADB's draft Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2030 may be used to extend the life of coal plants by switching to biomass or biofuels, thereby labeling them as 'abated' coal rather than phasing them out.
• In Indonesia, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has implemented biomass co-firing in 32 coal power plant units as of May 2022. Trend Asia estimates that achieving 10 percent co-firing across 107 units would require 10.23 million tons of biomass annually, necessitating at least 2.33 million hectares of energy plantations and potentially causing 2.1 million hectares of deforestation per year.
• The document identifies several countries where coal repurposing plans are a concern, specifically the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam.

APA

Trend Asia (2023). Coal exit must not entail support of the false solution of wood bioenergy. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Letter-to-ADB-President-final-version.pdf

Chicago

Trend Asia. Coal exit must not entail support of the false solution of wood bioenergy. 2023. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Letter-to-ADB-President-final-version.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Trend Asia |title=Coal exit must not entail support of the false solution of wood bioenergy |date=19 October 2023 |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Letter-to-ADB-President-final-version.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{trendasia2023coal, author = {{Trend Asia}}, title = {{Coal exit must not entail support of the false solution of wood bioenergy}}, publisher = {Trend Asia}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Letter-to-ADB-President-final-version.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }