Joint press release by NABU, Robin Wood, biofuelwatch, BUND Berlin, Greenpeace Berlin, BürgerBegehren Klimaschutz, PowerShift and the Landesverein der UmweltberaterInnen in Berlin und Brandenburg e.V.
Berlin, 25.04.2024: On today’s ‘Day of the Tree’, environmental organisations protested in front of the Red Town Hall in Berlin against the expansion of wood burning for Berlin’s district heating. The banner campaign under the motto ‘No forest in the power plant – forests are not renewable’ is part of a decentralised day of action of the new alliance ‘burnt out – Alliance against the burning of biomass’, which is now active in many cities in Germany.
Shortly before the final takeover of the Berlin district heating network and nine Vattenfall cogeneration plants by the state of Berlin, the company has started the approval process for a new wood-fired cogeneration plant at the Reuter-West site. Vattenfall’s ‘decarbonisation roadmap’ of mid-last year envisages a much wider expansion of wood burning in Berlin. From today's almost 100,000 tons of wood per year, 70 percent of which is forest wood, this volume is expected to increase to up to 1.6 million tons by 2030. The new power plant in Reuter-West is to devour up to 37 tons of fresh wood per hour, and waste wood is also to be burned. Up to 324,000 tons of wood are needed per year.
Eric Häublein from NABU comments: “It is a scandal that Vattenfall is trying to do nails with heads here before the city's thermal planning is finished, thus identifying the potential for alternative technologies such as geothermal energy. As the new owner, the state of Berlin must immediately stop the plans. Otherwise, huge quantities of forest wood will be devoured by Berlin's power plants for decades to come. This is detrimental to the climate and forests, and under renewable heat, Berliners are sure to envision something else.”
The organizations estimate* that a forest area the size of Berlin's Tiergarten (200 ha) could only cover the needs of the Reuter-West power plant for a few weeks if they were completely cleared. Unlike in the Second World War, where the Tiergarten was cut down in distress for firewood, clean and climate-friendly alternatives for heat supply are now available.
Neelke Wagner from PowerShift adds: “In view of the climate crisis, we cannot continue to burn massive quantities of wood or natural gas. This is also to the detriment of the Global South, where heat, drought and flooding hit particularly hard. The re-municipalisation of Berlin's district heating offers the opportunity to reject Vattenfall's legacy and set the course for a democratic and climate-friendly heating supply. This is what we are calling for today in front of the Red Town Hall!”
Matthias Krümmel, BUND Berlin, adds: “Even the combustion of waste wood is not a solution, but torpedoes the efficient use of the valuable raw material wood, which should be used for as long as possible. Berlin city cleaning is already planning a new waste wood heating power plant, although significantly more used wood is already being burned in Germany than in other EU countries.”
The short rotation plantations often put in the foreground by Vattenfall are also not a solution. 300,000 ha of poplar plantations would be needed to supply the planned power plants alone – this corresponds to about 135 times the area of the Grunewald.
Pictures of the action are available on 25.04., from 12.00 o'clock, here: https://seafile.nabu.de/d/7fde27ff39/
More information can be found in the joint information paper: 240220-nabu-holzverbrennung-infopapier-berlin.pdf
Press contact:
- NABU: Eric Häublein, Bioenergy Officer, +49 (0) 162 269 4781, Eric.haeublein@NABU.de
- PowerShift e.V.: Neelke Wagner, Climate and Resource Justice Officer, Mobile: +49(0) 1575 2466 920, e-mail: neelke.wagner(at)power-shift.de
- BUND Berlin: Matthias Krümmel, Policy Officer for Climate Protection Policy /
- Berliner Energiecheck, Mobile +49(0) 177 2836 068 Email: kruemmel@bund-berlin.de
- State Association of Environmental Consultants in Berlin and Brandenburg e.V., Gudrun Pinn, Chairman, Mobil: +49 (0) 163 3571 668, e-mail: Pinn@umweltberatung-info.de
*Calculation that the Tiergarten would be burned in 5 weeks at the planned wood-fired power plant in Reuter West: 200 ha corresponds to the area of the Tiergarten à average amount of wood (‘stock-fixing meter’) on a piece of forest in Brandenburg of this size equal to 58,000 Fm (fixing meter) à half pine, half hardwood, each 29,000 Fm à 1 Fm pine has 510 kg tm/fm = 15,000 t atro; à Oak/beech: 670 kg tm/fm = 19,430 t atro à together so 34,500 t atro, à Through 37t/h wood input in the power plant à is enough for 930 h = 38 days = 5 weeks
