Biomass energy could punch hole in emissions

 

Carbon News 28 February 2019

NEW ZEALAND could slash five million tonnes off its annual greenhouse gas emissions through the use of biomass energy in factories and for heavy transport, new figures show.

Importantly, it is methane emissions that would be reduced – an issue that New Zealand is struggling to deal with.

With scientists warning that rapidly rising concentrations of atmospheric methane are putting hopes of achieving the Paris Agreement commitments at risk, New Zealand is struggling to know what to do about the 33.9 million tonnes a year of methane it produces – 43 per cent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Of that, 29 million tonnes comes from agriculture and is deemed by many to be too hard to tackle without reducing food production and damaging the economy.

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