The insanity of the UK’s “net zero” policies – deforestation of North America to pollute the UK

Regular readers will recall prior articles like this one:

Quick reminder – there are 3 trillion trees on the planet – each tree absorbs 25 kg of CO2 a year= 75 billion tonnes a year – mankind emits 35 billion tonnes of CO2 - so what’s the problem?

I spotted this article from MIT that pursues the same line of thought, with a few caveats:

https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-many-new-trees-would-we-need-offset-our-carbon-emissions

“When they die and decay, burn in a wildfire, or are chopped down and burned for fuel, trees release all the CO₂ they’ve been hiding away. This means that each time we “reverse” some of our emissions with a new forest, we have to protect that forest permanently.”

Which suggests that the forests need to be managed to remove older trees. Note the “chopped down and burned for fuel” comment. Wood can also be used to build frames for houses!

Enter the UK’s wood pellet demand to substitute for coal, as exemplified by Drax power station that supplies around 6-7% of UK household electricity. From here:

You cannot argue with a sick mind - the Moloch inspired madness of Miliband - the UK’s “net zero” minister

“,,, Drax received significant subsidies for burning imported woody biomass, which is primarily sourced from wood pellets. The subsidies amounted to £869 million in 2024, indicating a substantial reliance on imported biomass.”

An additional “fun fact” from Brave AI:

“Drax burns approximately 6.5 million tonnes of wood pellets each year. This figure is based on the amount of wood pellets required to produce the electricity generated by the power station, which emits about 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.”

Pay for pollution! How insane is that?

That’s not the total imports of wood pellets into the UK – per Brave AI:

“In 2024, the UK is set to import a record 9.641 million metric tons of wood pellets.”

“… recent reports indicate that Drax's CO2 emissions in 2023 were 11.5 million tonnes.”

Not necessarily for the same amount of electricity, but close.

Which leaves the question: “where do the wood pellets come from?”

From Brave AI:

“The United States primarily exports wood pellets to the United Kingdom, followed by other European countries such as Denmark, Italy, and Belgium. The UK received nearly four million metric tons of wood pellets from the US in 2015”.

Okay, that’s ten years ago. Things are moving fast – from Brave AI:

“In 2024, the United States exported wood pellets to several countries, with the United Kingdom (UK) being the largest consumer of wood pellets globally. The UK's wood pellet regulations have not significantly diverged from the European Union (EU) following Brexit.

Additionally, South Korea, which had been a significant market, announced in late 2024 that it will end subsidies for new biomass energy projects and existing state-owned facilities that co-fire imported biomass starting in 2025, and phase out subsidies for privately owned facilities starting in 2026.”

The total volume of U.S. wood pellet exports reached over 10 million metric tons in 2024.”

The UK is still run by EU regulations – how lazy is that – with 9.6 million tonnes of wood pellets to th UK out of a total of 10 million tonnes exported by the US.

Note the attitude of South Korea!

So, which US States are taking advantage of the profligate (”it’s only money and it’s not mine”) UK government spending?

From here:

United States Deforestation Rates & Statistics | GFW

“In United States, the top 8 regions were responsible for 53% of all tree cover loss between 2001 and 2023. Alaska had the most tree cover loss at 6.30 Mha compared to an average of 939 kha.

These US States probably have great forest management and replace all trees felled and forests “deforested”.

The insanity of the Marxist and irremediably stupid, Cult of Moloch religious zealots in the UK’s Labour government and its “net zero” goals does not stop there.

C heck this out:

English farmland could be cut by 9% to hit green targets - BBC News

" About 9% of England's farming land will need to be converted into forest and wild habitats by 2050 to meet the government's net zero and nature targets.”

The debate about climate change has switched from “global boiling because of CO2” to allegedly – “energy security”. Both of which are based on lies and factual errors of the UN IPCC’s disproven climate models.

Here’s another take:

Climate Cult Is Outraged President Trump Is Not Letting Some Climate Gabbers Go Gab in China

The “net zero” goals want to change the countryside of the UK from this:

Via this:

To this:

And this:

Once the forests of wind turbines and plantations of solar panels are built, the land is useless for anything else.

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Onwards!!!