More than 40 green groups have called on Ed Miliband to scrap plans to pay billions in subsidies to the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire for it to keep burning wood pellets imported from overseas forests.
In an open letter to the energy secretary, 41 groups from across Europe and the US said they were “deeply concerned” about the government’s plans to foot the cost of extending the subsidy scheme, which supports the UK’s most polluting power plant from 2027 until the end of the decade.
The subsidy scheme, which has paid the FTSE 250 owners of Drax more than £7bn since 2012, also supports the Lynemouth biomass plant in Northumberland which is owned by the billionaire investor Daniel Křetínský.
“These power stations are burning trees from some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in the southern USA, Canada and Europe, with devastating impacts on communities, wildlife and the climate. This puts at risk forests and wildlife in many of our countries,” the letter said.
.“We urge [Miliband] not to grant any new subsidies to wood-burning power stations in the UK and we would be grateful if you could meet with some of us to discuss these concerns directly with you,” it added.
The letter was signed by green groups from the US, Canada, Latvia, Estonia and Portugal – all countries that supplied the nearly 6m tons of wood pellets imported by the UK in 2023 – amid growing concern over the environmental impact of felling trees for biomass.
It comes days after green campaigners in the UK accused Drax of using the police as “private security” for the power plant when dozens of pre-emptive arrests at the site forced the cancellation of a climate protest camp. Police arrested 25 people and seized tents, fire safety equipment and wheelchair-accessible flooring in what green groups called “an unreasonable restriction of free speech”.
Anti-Drax protesters gathered outside Fulford police station in York to await the release of people who had been arrested. Photograph: Gary Calton/The ObserverAdam Colette, a campaigner with the Dogwood Alliance, based in North Carolina in the US, said: “Our forests and communities have long suffered from the destructive practices of the biomass industry. The devastation is led by Drax and financed by the British government. Our hope is that a new administration sees the impacts that come from false solutions which harm the people and environment in the southern US and stop subsidising planet destroying companies.”
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has been approached for comment.
Drax has won the support of the UK government thanks to its claim that its electricity is “carbon neutral” because the trees that are felled to produce wood pellets absorb as much carbon dioxide while they grow as they emit when they are burned in the power plant.
Analysis published earlier this month by the climate thinktank Ember found that Drax was Britain’s largest carbon emitter last year after its chimneys released 11.5m tonnes of CO2, or nearly 3% of the UK’s total carbon emissions.
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Drax plans to fit carbon-capture technology at the site. Photograph: Gary Calton/The ObserverThe company plans to fit carbon-capture technology at the site – using more subsidies – to create a “bioenergy with carbon capture and storage” (Beccs) project which it claims would be the first “carbon-negative” power plant in the world by the end of the decade.
The claims have been disputed by experts. More than 500 scientists signed a letter in 2021 warning that burning wood pellets would create a “carbon debt” that would not be paid off by the growth of new trees for decades.
“Regrowing trees and displacement of fossil fuels may eventually pay off this carbon debt, but regrowth takes time the world does not have to solve climate change. As numerous studies have shown, this burning of wood will increase warming for decades to centuries. That is true even when the wood replaces coal, oil or natural gas,” the letter said.
A government spokesperson said: “The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change defines biomass sourced in line with strict sustainability criteria as a low carbon source of energy. We will continue to monitor biomass electricity generation to ensure it meets required standards.”
Drax has been approached for comment.