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Social acceptance of the use of biomass has emerged as one of the key factors in the transition from the use of non-renewable to renewable resources. Furthermore, the achievement of a social license to operate is of increasing importance in forestry. However, the sustainability of an intensified production and use of forest biomass has been contested by various stakeholders (e.g. Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations - ENGOs). Therefore, a better understanding of stakeholder perceptions and grievances regarding the sustainability of forest biomass is needed to ensure the development of socially acceptable policy and market instruments in the forest-based sector. The goal of this study is to elucidate concerns raised by ENGOs regarding the sustainability of forest biomass. We employ a frame analysis on press releases published by the leading European ENGOs in order to identify and describe a dominant frame employed by European ENGOs concerning the sustainability of forest management and utilization of forest biomass. Our results show that there is a single dominant frame. The observed frame is characterized by an emphasis on the environmental risks, rejection of the assumption of carbon neutrality of forest biomass and absence of the discussion on the substitution effect of forest biomass utilization. According to our findings, ENGOs conceive sustainability performance of a forest-based product as a convergence of sustainable raw material production and sustainable manufacturing and use of a product. As such the ENGO frame represents a risk frame and is directly conflicting an economic frame employed by the EU ' s forest sector. Our results suggest that representatives of the forest-based sector should address the main environmental concerns of ENGOs, and consider sustainability impacts of both, production and consumption in order to increase social acceptance of forest products, especially bioenergy.