Home » Wood, the future of the supply chain at stake on energy subsidies

Wood, the future of the supply chain at stake on energy subsidies

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Wood, the future of the supply chain at stake on energy subsidies

«The wood sector, and in particular the European panel industry, suffers from the scarcity of raw materials – explains the president of Assopannelli Paolo Fantoni -. Some companies have come to temporarily stop production, with the real risk of making the furniture supply chain fail to supply the necessary supplies ». Furthermore, some producers are forced to source timber from overseas, to overcome the lack of availability from traditional European suppliers, with increased costs and delivery times.

On the other hand, the biomass producers say, “if the Commission does not approve new support measures for our companies, the plants are destined to close when the incentives currently in force expire, therefore between 2023 and 2026”, as stated the president of EBS, Antonio Di Cosimo, who represents the main producers of electricity from solid biomass and groups together 15 operators and 18 plants of over 5 MW throughout the country.

Still different is the position of Aiel, the association that represents the producers of woody biofuels and of the technologies to transform these biofuels into heat and energy (stoves, fireplace inserts, boilers, cogeneration groups): companies that are not recipients of subsidies, but that claim the sustainability of the supply chain that uses wood waste to produce energy, as explained by the president, Annalisa Paniz. Ebs and Aiel in fact ensure that the raw material used in the Italian plants (subjected to strict controls) is all of certified origin and comes exclusively from “forest maintenance residues, such as waste and pruning cuttings, wood processing waste that cannot otherwise be used. , field residues from farms or residues from agri-food activities ”, explains Di Cosimo.

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The ecological implications

And here we enter the second decisive point of the question, the ecological one, also under the scrutiny of the European Commission, which just yesterday approved a series of stricter rules for the fight against climate change, including the request to companies to verify and ensure that products sold within the Union do not come from deforested or degraded land. The European panel federation presses on the so-called “Principle of cascading use” of wood, according to which this material should be used as a priority “for the construction of beams, boards, panels, furniture, etc., leaving as a last resort its energy enhancement “, explains Fantoni, who also cites the denunciation of the Forest Biomass out of Red coalition, formed by 100 NGOs, supported by about 300 scientists, according to which” the production of energy from forest biomass is more polluting than the use of fossil sources “. A complaint also resumed by the “New York Times” in an investigation published last week, which highlights how the policy of subsidies for wood combustion has made this raw material the main source of renewable energy in Europe, ahead of that solar and wind.

The role of Europe

The Commission is called today to mediate between these different positions and interests. «It is probable that a compromise will be reached – explains Paolo Fantoni – which for us is not optimal, but which nevertheless marks a step forward. In other words, we expect that from the contributions, which are in any case reserved only for the kilowatts produced by the combustion of virgin wood, logs and noble parts of the wood will be excluded, while they remain for types such as wood chips and sawdust ». The wood industry also asks for “a more stringent activation of the cascading use of wood with different national declinations”, adds Fantoni, who cites the virtuous case of Belgium, where chipboard panel manufacturers can optionally choose a certain amount of wood and purchase it as a priority over biomass power plants, under the control of the local chamber of commerce.

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