'Carbon-neutrality is a fairy tale': how the race for renewables is burning Europe's forests

Wood pellets are sold as a clean alternative to coal. But is the subsidised bioenergy boom accelerating the climate crisis?Kalev Järvik stands on a bald patch of land in the heart of Estonia's Haanja nature reserve and remembers when he could walk straight from one side of the reserve to the other under a canopy of trees.Järvik has lived in the Haanja uplands in the southern county of Voru for more than 10 years. His closeness to the forest has shaped his life as a carpenter and the fortunes of the surrounding villages, with their handicraft traditions - a substitute for farming on the poor arable land. Upcountry, travel literature promotes the region to city dwellers, promising its ancient woodlands as a place to rest and reinvigorate the mind. Continue reading...