Biomass and the Environment Biomass is CO2 neutral. This means that, as crops grow, they take in CO2 from the atmosphere and, when they are burned, they release the same amount of CO2 back into the atmosphere. As the government attempts to reduce the amount of CO2 into the atmosphere, biomass becomes a tool for reducing CO2 emissions. The emissions from fossil fuels are CO2 that was stored millions of years ago and is not currently in our atmosphere. While biomass does not actually reduce CO2 levels, it does not add any CO2 to the atmosphere.
Trees are wood and wood is essentially carbon that was once carbon dioxide.
Trees grow and take in CO2 and convert the CO2 to carbon and release oxygen to the atmosphere. There is the argument that trees that are cut to be burned for biomass electricity are returning CO2 to our atmosphere that would otherwise be stored in the trees in the form of wood. The response seems to be that quick growing trees are grown and burned and replanted so that there is still no net gain of CO2. The other response is that some areas would not be planted with trees without the biomass aspect of the project. Finally agricultural and tree scraps make biomass power instead of going into landfills.