South Korea to shrink biomass energy subsidies after criticism over link to deforestation

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The South Korean government will reduce subsidies for biomass energy after rising domestic and international criticism of its link to deforestation. Environmental activists generally applauded the reforms but criticized loopholes and slow timelines for phasing out the subsidies.

“While not without caveats, (the) decision by the South Korean government demonstrates that large-scale biomass power has no place in a renewable energy future,” Hansae Song, program lead at South Korea-based nongovernmental organization Solutions for Our Climate, said in an email to The Associated Press.

Biomass power, predominantly generated by burning wood, is growing globally as countries accelerate their transition to use cleaner energy — even though many scientists and environmentalists see it as problematic. In South Korea, it's the second-largest source of renewable energy.

South Korea has subsidized biomass energy with millions of dollars for more than a decade via their renewable energy certificates program. In a single recent year the government gave approximately $688 million to support power plants using biomass, according to a press release from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Faced with limited domestic forest resources, South Korea’s biomass power industry has structured its business model around importing large volumes of wood pellets at lower prices from forest-rich nations. In 2023, imports accounted for 82% of the country’s wood pellet demand, making South Korea the world’s third-largest importer of biomass fuels, after the United Kingdom and Japan. An AP report found that biomass imported from Indonesia was linked to deforestation of natural, intact forest.

“As the (biomass) market expanded, various issues emerged,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in their press release. “Criticisms regarding forest degradation and carbon emissions associated with biomass power generation persist."

Under the revised policy, South Korea will not support any new biomass power plants. Subsidies for six existing state-owned plants co-firing coal and biomass will end this year, while the value of renewable energy certificates for three state-owned dedicated biomass plants will be phased down by 2027. At privately owned plants, subsidies for co-fired biomass from six plants will be phased out over the next decade, while subsidy weightings will be reduced for 12 dedicated biomass plants over the next 15 years.

But environmental activists are critical of loopholes in the new policy.

Domestically produced wood pellets and chips will still have the same level of support as before, including those co-fired with coal — which experts say could pose a threat to South Korea’s forests. Power plants under construction or in planning with approved business permits are exempt from the new policy and subject to the phased reduction timelines for existing facilities.

State-owned co-firing facilities — which will lose their renewable energy certificates — currently account for only 10% of South Korea’s biomass power fleet, while the phase-out of most private co-firing will take over a decade to complete under the new policy, said Solutions for Our Climate.

“This extends the life of thermal power plants — many with emissions per unit of energy higher than coal — beyond the Paris Agreement-aligned coal phase-out deadlines,” Song wrote in an email to AP.

The South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea Forest Service and Ministry of Environment did not respond to requests for comment from AP.

Experts said South Korea's policy change could signal a shift in how countries consider and incorporate biomass as part of their own energy transitions.

“There has been a positive shift in terms of discourse around biomass subsidies,” said Claire Squire, a research associate at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy Center for Global Sustainability. “Cutting subsidies won’t necessarily fix everything, but potentially if they’re constructed differently than they have in the past, that might be an improvement.”

As countries accelerate their energy transitions, demand for biomass is growing: The use of bioenergy has increased an average of about 3% per year between 2010 and 2022, the International Energy Agency said.

Experts including the IEA say it’s important for that demand to happen in a sustainable way, such as using waste and crop residue rather than converting forest land to grow bioenergy crops. Deforestation contributes to erosion, damages biodiverse areas, threatens wildlife and humans who rely on the forest and intensifies disasters from extreme weather.

Many scientists and environmentalists have rejected the use of biomass altogether. They say burning wood-based biomass can emit more carbon than coal and tree-cutting greatly reduces forests’ ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Critics also say that using biomass to co-fire, instead of transitioning directly to clean energy, simply prolongs the use of coal.

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Workers load sacks of wood pellets onto barges at a port in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri)

A machine operates near a road leading to the area of wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri)

Logs sit on the back of a truck parked on the side of a road leading to the area of several wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri)

Deforestation is visible near the areas of several wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that former Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart can continue to work for Spire Motorsports but not the role he performed with his old NASCAR team.

Gabehart is the chief motorsports officer at Spire, a job that encompasses most of parent company TWG Global's racing properties. He made his first public appearance as a Spire employee over the weekend at the IndyCar event in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Gabehart can travel to this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway, where both NASCAR and IndyCar are competing. TWG Motorsports also owns Andretti Global of IndyCar.

The ruling Monday from U.S. District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez in the Western District of North Carolina followed her order that both sides attempt to find a resolution following Friday's hearing on JGR's motion for a restraining order to prevent Gabehart from working for Spire.

She set a March 16 date for a full hearing regarding Gabehart's employment.

Another complaint from JGR that Gabehart stole data from the team to give to Spire has not yet been addressed. JGR has claimed Gabehart caused more than $8 million in damages by copying files and setups from the team, and Spire has been named as a defendant.

Rodriguez on Monday ordered Gabehart to return all data and material he has from JGR to the team owned by Joe Gibbs, who founded the NASCAR organization in 1992 after he won three Super Bowls as Washington’s football coach.

Gibbs is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and NASCAR Hall of Fame and now co-owns JGR with his daughter-in-law, Heather. The team fields Cup cars for Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin.

“Spire takes trade secrets very seriously, and we're a lot of things, but we're not hypocrites,” Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson said. "We don't want anybody else's stuff, other than Hendrick, obviously. We're happy. The facts are the facts and I don't have any ill will toward JGR.

“I think we got thrown in because that's where it landed. I'm happy with the decision and we take trade secrets super seriously.”

Spire already has an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, a deal that gives the team access to the Hendrick data. Hendrick is the winningest team in NASCAR history. Spire fields Cup cars for Carson Hocevar, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez, as well as a Truck Series team. JGR does not have a Truck Series team.

Gibbs and his daughter-in-law were not in court Monday for the 10-minute proceeding. They did attend last Friday's hearing.

“We are pleased with today’s ruling by the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina for a temporary restraining order enforcing the terms of our contract with Chris Gabehart,” JGR said in a statement. “We will continue the legal process to protect our information and fight for what is right for our race team, our employees, and our partners.”

Gabehart joined JGR in 2012 as an engineer, worked his way to crew chief for Hamlin and became competition director ahead of the 2025 season. Gabehart spent six seasons as Hamlin’s crew chief and the duo won 22 Cup races — two of which were the Daytona 500 — and qualified for the championship finale three times.

Hamlin finished fifth or better in six seasons under Gabehart, while Hamlin’s wins and laps-led were second-best in the Cup Series during that period.

Gabehart admitted to the court he did take photographs on his phone of a JGR Excel file and other projects that he had played a role in developing. But Gabehart insisted a forensic audit proved the information was never shared with any other organization.

He says his 13-year tenure at JGR began to unravel when he was pressured last season to crew chief Ty Gibbs, the grandson of the team owner, despite having been promoted to competition director at the end of 2024.

“I notified JGR that the job was not, at all, as advertised. I was promised a COO-type role overseeing all competitive operations with autonomy to lead,” Gabehart told the court. “Instead, I found myself constantly intertwined with Coach Gibbs, senior JGR executives and family members when making even routine competition decisions — a dysfunctional organizational structure that I could not continue in.”

Gabehart said from the IndyCar race on Saturday that the dispute is not about him being pressured to crew chief Ty Gibbs, who Gabehart said was not held to the same standard as the other drivers. He said he feels bad about the publicity his dispute has caused for NASCAR and the Gibbs family, who employed him for 13 seasons.

“Deep down, I believe Ty is a really good person who has been delt a really tough hand the last three years, him and his family," Gabehart said, "and I feel really bad about that.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

FILE - Joe Gibbs watches a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, July 27, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

FILE - Christopher Gabehart, crew chief for Denny Hamlin, watches practice for a NASCAR Cup Series auto race on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna, File)