Foreword
One of the biggest environmental
news stories of recent weeks, and arguably of the whole year, has been the very
sobering publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s report
on global warming. Previous editions of this report have highlighted the
potentially disastrous effects of the planet warming far beyond pre-industrial
levels, including the oft-touted melting of the polar ice caps, resulting in a
rise in sea-levels, but perhaps more significantly, a major disruption of ocean
currents, and thus dramatic changes in weather patterns. The latter presents a
potentially huge threat to global agriculture, throwing doubt on the
sustainability of future food supplies. The IPCC has previously recommended
that global temperature not be allowed to rise more than 2°C above
pre-industrial levels, but now, in light of further research, the IPCC has
chosen to lower this to 1.5°C, citing research that has found the effects of
this temperature rise would be less drastic than those of a 2°C rise, including.........
Other News this Month Includes:
Policy
- Palm Oil producers come out swinging in face
of EU legislation
- European Commission announces bioeconomy
measures for 2019
Markets
- High pellet prices predicted in future
- Versalis purchases Italian bioeconomy
companies
Research & Development
- Capturing CO2 from air to make fuel
- Latest IPCC report recommends global warming
threshold of 1.5C
- "Lignin-first" approach to
utilisation of lignocellulosic biomass
- Project investigates fructose production
from woody biomass
Wood & Crop
- Increase in UK woodland area
- UK cereal production down in 2018
- Sappi adopts Verve brand for dissolved wood
pulp
- France set for black pellet production plant
Other Feedstocks
- Utilising disposable nappies as feedstock
- EMBRACED project pursues alternative waste
biorefinery for nappies
- Coffee waste for biofuel
- Non-food biomass for aromatic chemicals
production
- Fischer-Tropsch process licensed for
municipal solid waste conversion
Events
Feedstock Prices