DEADLINE: NPF Fellowship on Biomass and Climate Change Ahead of COP26 Conference

To help environmental and political reporters understand the economic, climate and conservation issues posed by biomass, the National Press Foundation is offering an all-expenses-paid fellowship for 20 U.S. and Canadian journalists to take a deep look at the issue. It will take place at multiple sites in North Carolina, a state that is a driver of growth in the biomass industry. The program will convene in Raleigh but then travel by bus to facilities and locales central to the biomass, wood-pellet and carbon sequestration debates.

The fellowship covers airfare, ground transportation, hotel costs and most meals. NPF offers this professional development opportunity for journalists to enhance skills, increase knowledge and recharge their reporting on one of today’s most critical issues.

The program will offer expert briefings from both sides of the Atlantic and all sides of the issue. We will cover the rapid growth of the Southern wood-pellet industry and its expansion to Gulf Coast states; the regulatory battles in Europe, which created demand for wood pellets by its renewable energy mandate; the massive plant in Britain that has been converted to burn North American wood instead of English coal; and the effect of the expanding biomass industry on Black, Indigenous and other communities of color in the United States.

Fellows will hear from industry, government and environmental experts. Topics will include bioenergy standards, such those set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, the EU and the U.S.; “carbon ledgers” and the arcana of accounting for carbon emissions; how the Trump administration treated biomass in the nation’s sustainability goals and how the Biden administration will; how global regulators at COP26 conference will treat biomass; and the effects of regulatory changes on jobs, forestry and the economy of the U.S. Southern states.

The training will be held Oct. 10-13, 2021 in North Carolina (or online if pandemic worsens).

This program is open to U.S. and Canadian journalists only.

The deadline to apply is August 27 extended to Sep 6.

More information here. Apply here.