Over half of Europe's "renewable" energy is produced by burning wood. It is called forest biomass and according to environmentalists the approximately €17 billion in subsidies it receives each year put European forests at risk. This is why the European Parliament is discussing whether to continue to subsidize it.
"Spotlight", the investigative column of Rainews24 edited by Valerio Cataldi, in the episode of Friday 15 July 2022 at 20.30 (and replicated on Sunday 17 July at 10.30 and 20.30) investigates the impact of incentives for wood biomass in Italy and Romania with the investigation "The affair of forest cuts" by Ludovica Jona.
In Romania - a country where the last virgin forests of Europe are located and several forest guards were killed by the "wood mafia" - the team followed the operations of denunciation of the activist Tiberiu Boșutar, who in September suffered an attempt homocide.
In Italy, however, the investigation reconstructs with unpublished testimonies and data the path of the wood that is burned in the biomass plants of Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia, discovering that it comes largely from Tuscany. According to the judiciary, some Italian forest cuts were found to be illegal and in Crotone (Calabria) - where there are three biomass plants, including one of the largest in Europe - the health authorities intervened by reporting the health risks to citizens caused by the dust produced by the plants.
© Photo: Catalin Prisacariu
