New peer-reviewed study shows wood pellet industry met forest carbon neutrality

In Maryland, Enviva Inc. along with the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association (USIPA), welcome a recent study, titled “Impacts of the US southeast wood pellet industry on local forest carbon stocks.” The study has been peer-reviewed and published in a leading scientific journal, Nature, confirming that the wood pellet industry has met the overall condition of forest carbon neutrality in the U.S. Southeast between 2000 and 2019.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), if harvest volumes (for wood products and energy) and losses related to mortality and disturbances do not exceed the growth across the whole forest, there is no net reduction in forest carbon stock. The 2022 study in Nature additionally confirms, by data, that carbon neutrality guidelines have been met by biomass producers in the U.S. Southeast, which is the world’s leading region for wood pellet production and export. Between 2000 and 2019, data and observations were collected from more than 19,000 forest inventory tracts maintained by the U.S. Forest Service. At the completion of the study, researchers concluded that, “our estimates offer robust evidence that the wood pellet industry has met the overall condition of forest carbon neutrality.”