Lisbon, Oct. 21, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Zero and Centro Pinus environmental associations praise the Government's proposal to ban wood burning and prioritise sustainable use of the product, but warn that there are still "worrying exceptions" in this proposal.
On International Biomass Action Day, the two organisations issued a statement praising the proposed decree-law for the transposition of the Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII), which is open for public consultation until the 25th, but also issuing warnings.
The proposal shows "great ambition on the part of the Government", but leaves "doors open" that allow Portuguese forests to continue to be used for energy production in an unsustainable manner.
After recent years of warning about the unsustainable use of forest biomass for energy production, such as burning wood rather than waste, the associations now welcome what they call a "fundamental advance" in the proposal for a new definition of Forest Biomass Residue (FBR).
The definition excludes wood with a diameter greater than six centimetres and by-products that are useful for the wood processing industry from FBR.
"This new definition, by introducing an easily enforceable visual criterion, the diameter of the logs, responds to a long-standing demand, particularly from environmental movements and some sectors of the wood industry," say Zero, an environmental association, and Centro Pinus, an association for the value enhancement of pine forests, in a statement.
The two organisations also highlight the ban on public support for wood burning and the end of support for power stations dedicated exclusively to electricity production from biomass, "encouraging cogeneration efficiency".
They add: "It is particularly important to note the rigorous formalisation of the principle of cascading use of wood, according to which burning is the last resort, in a virtuous cycle that prioritises wood-based products, the extension of their useful life, their reuse and recycling."
Even so, the associations consider that environmental sustainability is still not sufficiently safeguarded. This is because the proposal allows for the cancellation of "cascading use".
In order to prevent biomass plants from using good wood to produce energy, the current "shocking burning of wood" according to the statement, it is important that the Government ensures "the effective cascading use" of wood.
This is because, according to the authors of the statement, without removing the possibility of derogation, the transposition of the directive "will be nothing more than a robust piece of legislation in theory, but potentially ineffective in practice, perpetuating the unsustainable burning of wood and undermining the contribution of forests and forest products to Portugal's climate objectives".
FP/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
