Bowen considers forest biomass ban as Labor cuts deals on climate bill

Federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen has agreed to consider a ban on native forest wood burning being counted as renewable energy, as negotiations continue around the passage of the Albanese government’s landmark Climate Bill.

The Climate Bill on Tuesday looks set to pass through the Senate, after the Albanese government agreed to adopt some of the “sensible” amendments proposed by independent Senator David Pocock.

The negotiations between federal climate minister Chris Bowen and Pocock will see changes to how and when advice from the Climate Change Authority is tabled by government, and information on climate risk included in the annual ministerial climate statement to parliament.

They do not, however, address the difference of opinion that Pocock – alongside the Greens and many other independents – has with Labor over its ongoing support for new coal and gas projects.

In an interview outside parliament on Tuesday, Pocock said it was never his intention to block the Climate Bill, which he sees as long overdue policy progress, but stressed he was not in politics to “rubber stamp legislation,” either.

“We’ve heard a lot of talk about climate action, legislating and targets, but at the same time we’re seeing acreage opened up for offshore oil and gas which, those two things don’t go together,” Pocock said.

“So we’ve got a long way to go. But this …this is a start.

Bowen, in return, said he had “had very good and constructive conversations” with Pocock, which had resulted in Labor supporting his “sensible” amendments to the Bill, while dispensing with others.

“He’s engaged as you would expect a sensible, constructive member of the crossbench to do, and I’m very pleased that he’s announced he’s supporting the bill,” Bowen told reporters.

“This means [it] will become the law of the land and Australia will have a Climate Change Act, which is a very good thing for our country,” he said.

More promisingly, Bowen also told reporters he was considering a recommendation by a Labor-led Senate Committee to rule out the use of native forest biomass for renewable energy generation. The Greens later confirmed this was a part of their negotiations with Labor to secure support for the Climate Bill.

As RenewEconomy reported last month, native forest biomass was excluded as a source of renewable energy from the Renewable Energy Act 2000 under the Labor Gillard government, but is now back included, thanks to amendment to legislation made by the Abbott government.

In Australia, like in other parts of the world, generating power by burning woody biomass is favoured by incumbent fossil fuel companies keen to keep their assets generating power beyond the demise of coal.

But there is strong debate over whether using woody biomass is any better, in terms of emissions, than using coal – not to mention the potential environmental ramifications of chopping down and pulverising trees for an energy source.

The Greens said on Tuesday that the Senate Committee had heard evidence of damage being done to both forests and climate through the practice and a majority of the Committee, across both parties, had recommended a review of its use.

“The Senate committee heard clear evidence that the burning of wood from native forest for energy is far from renewable and that in fact it actually creates more pollution than burning coal,” said Senator Janet Rice, Greens spokesperson for forests.

“Our forests are worth far more standing both for our environment and for soaking up carbon than being destroyed to fuel forest furnaces.”

Bandt said it was time to get rid of the Abbott-era legacy.

“The Greens have secured important first steps from the government, but we won’t rest until this terrible practice stops,” he said.

“I welcome the Minister starting this consultation process, but with our environment under threat and the climate crisis increasing, the only logical conclusion is to stop burning native forests. The Greens and Labor opposed this practice under Tony Abbott and it needs to end now.”

Certainly, for the Albanese government, excluding woody biomass as a source of renewable energy could be a good way to distract from the whole new fossil fuel project thing, which is getting increasingly hard to defend in the context of accelerated climate ambition.

In an interview on ABC News on Tuesday, Labor MP and special envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, Nita Green, repeated the party line that the federal government was “being consistent with the laws around environmental approvals when it comes to any opening up of oil, gas fields.”

“I don’t think that regional Australians want to see this become a divisive debate and for us to move away from the core issue, which is that we are committed to emissions reductions,” said Green.

“That is an important step for us to take forward. We are doing that and we have signaled to industry that we want to see more investment in renewable energy and we will see that when this bill is passed.”