ENVIROMENTAL ISSUES: Using biomass, a type of fuel made of materials such as wood and manure, instead of coal to generate electricity could lower the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and create jobs, according to a newly published report.
The World Wide Fund for Nature, which wrote the report with the European Biomass Industry Association, said in a statement that production of biomass would create hundreds of thousands of jobs while helping to reduce CO2, which contributes to global warming.
"The report indicated that this could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main global warming gas, by about 1,000 million tonnes each year, a figure equivalent to the combined annual emissions of Canada and Italy," the statement said.
Biomass currently provides 1 per cent of industrialised countries' power needs but could provide 15 per cent by 2020, according to the report.
A renewable energy source, biomass is made from agricultural and forest products such as animal waste, straw or sugar cane.
The European Union is pushing for renewable energy sources such as biomass, wind power and solar energy to be used more widely across Europe.
The bloc has set a target for the 15 countries that it comprised before its enlargement on May 1st to use renewable energy for 12 per cent of their overall energy needs by 2010.
Twenty-two per cent of their electricity consumption is to come from renewable sources by that date.