Biomass Subsidies

That the Parliament welcomes the Scottish Government’s apparent intention to remove subsidies from large-scale electricity-only biomass; understands that this in line with the UK-wide Committee on Climate Change’s Bioenergy Review, which was published in December 2011; notes that the review argued against large-scale electricity-only biomass power stations; understands, however, that the proposed Scottish policy could allow large-scale biomass power station operators to claim that their stations run on combined heat and power, which could potentially attract large subsidies, but that such stations can have an efficiency level as low as 35%; believes that small-scale biomass plants are more sustainable and that the transportation of wood stock from overseas for larger plants increases carbon emissions and leads to deforestation; is concerned that subsidies for co-fired biomass could encourage the inefficient combustion of large quantities of imported wood alongside coal, and urges the Scottish Government to adopt a position of removing subsidies, not only from electricity-only biomass, but also from co-fired and combined heat and power biomass where these do not meet the minimum efficiency rating of 70% as set out by a European directive, believing that such a position would be distinct from that of the UK Government.