We have extended the application for our program on biomass and climate change.
VIRTUAL OPTION: The program will be offered in person, but there is a Zoom-only option for those who cannot travel. Also, international journalists from woodchip producing or consuming areas are welcome to apply. There will be early morning and evening sessions scheduled for reporters in Asia and Europe.
The training will be held Oct. 11-12. in North Carolina, and the following online (all times U.S. Eastern):
Oct. 14, Thursday, 11 a.m.
Oct. 18, Monday, 9 p.m.
Oct. 20, Wednesday, 11 a.m.
Oct. 21, Thursday, 8 a.m.
Oct. 25, Monday, 11 a.m.
Oct. 27, Wednesday, 11 a.m.
Oct. 28, Thursday, 8 a.m.
This program is open to all journalists, domestic and international. Priority will be given to journalists from wood-pellet producing or importing nations. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis.
The program:
In the forests of the American South and Canada, timber is falling and the nation’s green wars are heating up. The flashpoint: wood pellets — or biomass — that is then burned to make electricity, often thousands of miles away in Europe.
The battle over biomass will feature at the UN COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, as climate scientists and regulators grapple over whether biomass can truly be considered “carbon neutral.” The same debate is going on in the U.S. Congress, as some lawmakers seek to do away with official language that declares biomass to be carbon neutral.
To help environmental and political reporters understand the economic, climate and conservation issues posed by biomass, the National Press Foundation is offering an all-expenses-paid fellowship for 20 journalists to take a deep look at the issue. It will take place at multiple sites in North Carolina, a state that is a driver of growth in the biomass industry. The program will convene in Raleigh but then travel by bus to facilities and locales central to the biomass, wood-pellet and carbon sequestration debates.
The program will offer expert briefings from both sides of the Atlantic and all sides of the issue. We will cover the rapid growth of the Southern wood-pellet industry and its expansion to Gulf Coast states; the regulatory battles in Europe, which created demand for wood pellets by its renewable energy mandate; the massive plant in Britain that has been converted to burn North American wood instead of English coal; and the effect of the expanding biomass industry on Black, Indigenous and other communities of color in the United States.
While renewable energy conjures up images of wind turbines and solar panels, 50% of the globe’s renewable energy today comes from biomass — not solar, wind or geothermal power. Bioenergy accounts for 60% of Europe’s renewable energy consumption, and is seen by some energy experts as crucial for replacing fossil fuels at times when the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow. The industry says that 1.7 trees are being planted in the southeastern U.S. for each one that is harvested.
Environmentalists say there isn’t enough wood “waste” to power these plants. The mature forests that are being cut instead are only “renewable” in 60 years’ time, while living trees sequester more carbon each and every year. In February, 500 scientists signed a letter to President Joe Biden and other world leaders saying that the burning of wood pellets increases carbon emissions in the short term; the world doesn’t have time wait, they wrote, for those increased emissions to be offset when new trees replace the harvested ones decades from now.
Big dollars and jobs are at stake. According to industry sources, the forestry sector in North Carolina employed more than 73,600 people in 2019 and generated more than $21.6 billion. Fellows will hear from industry, government and environmental experts. Topics will include bioenergy standards, such as those set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, the EU and the U.S.; “carbon ledgers” and the arcana of accounting for carbon emissions; how the Trump administration treated biomass in the nation’s sustainability goals and how the Biden administration will; how global regulators at COP26 conference will treat biomass; and the effects of regulatory changes on jobs, forestry and the economy of the U.S. Southern states.
The all-expenses-paid fellowship covers airfare, ground transportation, hotel costs and most meals. NPF offers this professional development opportunity for journalists to enhance skills, increase knowledge and recharge their reporting on one of today’s most critical issues.
COVID-19 PLANNING: Due to the rise in delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, participants in this in-person program may be required to mask or take other precautions against COVID transmission. Should pandemic conditions force NPF to cancel this in-person program, the trainings will be conducted online instead, ahead of the Glasgow climate summit.
This training is made possible with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. NPF is solely responsible for the content.