Indonesian forests pay the price for the growing global biomass energy demand

The global push for biomass that can be burned for energy is causing concern about the price Indonesia's forests are paying. The developing industry is already taking big bites out of forests across the vast tropical archipelago. Most of it is being shipped to Japan and South Korea, where biomass is seen as essential to their clean-energy transitions. Indonesia's state-run electricity company also plans to greatly increase its use. Coal plants can be easily converted to burn biomass, and advocates say that means lower emissions. But opponents argue that burning wood actually emits more carbon than coal and that cutting down trees reduces the tremendous carbon storage that forests provide.