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Today a coalition of green groups and businesses, including the RSPB, has written to the Secretaries of State for Business and for Energy and Climate Change, Vince Cable and Ed Davey. We are calling on them to protect the wildlife, climate and jobs that are threatened by the rapid expansion of bioenergy...

Helen Blenkharn Climate Change Policy Officer It’s that time of year again when our energy use soars through the roof as we warm our homes from the January weather - the extra couple of degrees on the central heating, the extra hour with the gas fire on in the evening, the higher setting on...

Last week we launched a report that put forward the evidence as to why burning whole trees to generate electricity is a bad thing for the climate. Our report, Dirtier than coal , put forward two key facts: firstly, that emissions from burning whole conifer trees are 49% higher than coal, and secondly...

As winter approaches, there’s nothing better than throwing another log on the fire. The UK Government are taking this sentiment one step further though, and will soon commit to subsidising coal power stations to ditch coal and switch over to burning wood instead. Drax – the largest coal...

Guest post by Sarah Alsbury, RSPB Environmental Systems Project Manager The mad thing about importing biomass to burn for energy is that we have plenty in the UK, which is often left to rot on the ground. We have this problem on many reserves, especially our wetlands. We need to cut grass, reeds,...

Helpfully confirming the mess we're in over climate climate, the new AVOID report surely must help to redouble efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The headline messages are stark. An evens chance of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius is no longer feasible - 1.6 is the very...

Matt Williams, Climate Change Policy Officer I was embarrassingly proud today when I was quoted for the first time as an RSPB climate change policy officer. The article was published on my birthday too, which is a nice treat. My statement is in an article related to biomass, which Government hopes...

Drax have today announced that they are abandoning plans for a huge biomass power plant in Yorkshire that alone would have consumed about 1.9 million tonnes of wood each year. See here for the story. The RSPB welcomes this announcement as good news for wildlife and good news for the climate, and are...

The UK Government is proposing to incentivise highly damaging bioenergy projects as it tries to meet renewable energy targets. Bioenergy is energy produced by burning organic materials such as wood, crops or wastes and RSPB research has shown that under current plans 33 million tonnes of wood could be...

Guest blogger: Mel Coath, Senior Climate Change Policy Officer On my way back from the climate change negotiations I stopped off in Canada to understand what the potential impacts are of a massive expansion of demand for Canadian wood from the UK, other countries in the EU and Japan. RSPB research...