Renewable wood energy supports both economic empowerment and global environmental justice.
Bioenergy provides jobs and economic investment in rural communities that need it, while reducing global carbon emissions by displacing coal and helping address the greatest environmental justice issue of our time: climate change.
Extreme anti-forestry groups like the Dogwood Alliance and the Partnership for Policy Integrity that make false claims about the bioenergy industry directly undermine these global environmental justice efforts. Their policies would promote the burning dirty fossil fuels like coal that accelerate climate change while denying local economies jobs and investment.
Promoting mountaintop coal removal is not justice – it’s an attack on the future of our planet and the economic well-being of communities in North Carolina and across the country.
The truth is that wood bioenergy supports local economies and global environmental justice efforts.
The facts:
The bioeconomy supports nearly half a million people in the United States while providing $100 billion in direct and indirect economic benefits, according to the US Department of Energy.
In North Carolina, a state where much of the United States’ wood biomass is sourced from, wood bioenergy alone provides nearly 1,000 local jobs.
New bioenergy plants bring hundreds of jobs and millions in investment to rural communities in need.
Wood bioenergy promotes global environmental justice by reducing carbon emissions and displacing dirty coal power, paving the way for a low-carbon economy that protects the environment for future generations.
The United Nations IPCC notes that bioenergy is necessary in all strategies to mitigate climate change.
Over 100 leading university scientists have embraced bioenergy for its potential to reduce carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels.
Experts at both the University of Georgia and the University of Illinois have found that wood bioenergy reduces carbon emissions compared to coal on a lifecycle basis by around 80 percent.
The forest products sector is a critical part of local economies. In North Carolina, for instance:
According to the North Carolina Forestry Association, the forest products industry is North Carolina’s top manufacturing industry, providing over 70,000 jobs, more than $18 billion in sales, and over $900 million in tax revenues.
The tax revenue from the forest products sector provides money for schools, roads, and government services the public relies on.
According to the North Carolina Forestry Service, 2,300 forestry-related companies operate in the state, generating an annual payroll of $2.7 billion.
Forestry provides the state of North Carolina over $1.5 billion in annual exports and $23 billion in economic benefits.
Tags: Biomass