Climate advocacy criticizes trade ministry, forest agency over anti-carbon neutrality policies

A coalition of environmental groups led by Solutions for Our Climate holds a press conference at Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul. Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

A coalition of environmental advocacy groups urged the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Forest Service to stop issuing renewable energy certificates (REC) for forest biomass, Monday.

Forest biomass includes all parts of trees and can be converted into solids, liquid or biofuels that can then be burned for energy generation or used as fuel substitutes for transportation or industrial processes.

An REC is a market-based instrument that represents the property rights to the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation. RECs are issued when one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity is generated and delivered to the electricity grid from renewable energy resources, including solar, wind, biomass and fuel cells. Renewable energy businesses sell electricity produced at the Solar Market Price (SMP) and sell RECs to generate additional revenue.

The coalition, led by Solutions for Our Climate, held a press conference at 11 a.m. at Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul, demanding that the trade ministry revise a policy whereby forest biomass energy businesses are granted three times the government subsidy given to solar energy businesses. The coalition also demanded an end to the practice of issuing biomass RECs to large coal-fired power plants.

“Forest biomass is just another fossil fuel,” the group said. “The government giving forest biomass businesses a weight three times that of solar power businesses goes against the goal of carbon neutrality.”

Such requests came after the trade ministry's decision to maintain the weight of unused forest biomass at 2.0 and to lower the weight of solar energy in buildings to 1.2-1.4 from 1.5. The higher the weight, the greater the grant.

Reducing the REC of solar energy, they said, is nothing but a contradictory policy that seeks to reduce urban solar energy while encouraging deforestation, adding that the actual policy that should be promoted in order to achieve energy independence and carbon neutrality is being sidelined.

Also concerning in their view is the fact that biomass is increasingly becoming the energy source to which the highest numbers of RECs are issued, in spite of the fact that it does not qualify for renewable energy grants.

Under related law, renewable energy must meet certain environmental standards involving the reduction of greenhouse gases and air pollutants, which biomass fails to meet.

According to the group, the bioenergy sector, which includes biomass, received the largest number of RECs between 2014 and 2018.

RECs issued to the bioenergy sector accounted for about 30 percent of the total RECs in 2019. The coalition says that this figure indicates that about 600 billion won ($531 million) in taxpayers' money is funding the bioenergy sector, given that the total REC market is about 2 trillion won.

“Hundreds of trucks enter and exit thermal power plants every day emitting greenhouse gases to supply large amounts of biomass raw materials. Deforestation for unused biomass production leads to the irrevocable loss of soil and biodiversity. The government should revise its REC policies and guarantee the participation of stakeholders including advocacy groups,” it said.