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  • Glossary item | Last updated: 04 Jan 2021

Carbon debt

The initial emission of biogenic-CO2 from forest bioenergy when it is higher than the emissions from a reference fossil system. It is called debt because the forest re-growth combined with the continuous substitution of fossil fuels may, in time, repay the “debt”.

JRC, 2014, European Commission, Joint Research Centre – IET, Carbon accounting of forest bioenergy : Conclusions and recommendations from a critical literature review, Agostini, A., Giuntoli, J., Boulamanti, A., Marelli, L., 2014, EUR 25354 EN, Luxembourg. Publications Office of the European Union, 2014.

Source category: EC Technical Documents