The UK government believes that there is now strong scientific evidence that climate change is happening and that one of the causes is an increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels.
This needs to be tackled.
In its Energy White Paper published in February 2003, the UK Government set the UK on a path to a 60% reduction in its CO² emissions by 2050. As part of the effort to achieve that target, the government believes that we should generate much more of our electricity and heat from low or non-carbon sources.
The Scottish Executive has set a target that 18% of the electricity generated in Scotland by 2010 should be from renewable sources, rising to 40% by 2020.
The Executive is committed to meeting these targets by promoting a range of technologies, and believes that biomass has the potential to play an important role.
The role that biomass might play is likely to be highly significant since it already provides approximately 64% of total EU renewable energy utilization.
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Biomass provides approximately 9% of “green electricity” across Europe. In Scotland, however, it has virtually no market penetration whatsoever.
Biomass, particularly wood fuel, is accepted as carbon neutral. It can have a positive effect on the environment. It is also a predictable and firm source of energy supply and therefore an important contributor to a diverse energy mix, which is vital to security and continuity of supply.