Miliband urged to end subsidies for firms burning wood for electricity

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is facing calls to end financial support for companies generating electricity from burning wood, including Britain’s biggest power station, Drax in North Yorkshire.

More than 40 environmental groups from countries that export wood pellets to the UK have signed a letter to Mr Miliband as campaigners turn their focus to the new Labour Government.

Drax and Lynemouth in Northumberland receive hundreds of millions a year in direct Government subsidies between them as well as multimillion-pound carbon tax breaks.

They get this money from energy bill payers because the electricity produced from burning wood pellets is classified as renewable, although biomass as a clean energy source has long been under dispute.

The campaigners from the US, Canada, Portugal, Estonia and Latvia said the power stations are burning wood from some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in their countries, with “devastating impacts on communities, wildlife and the climate”.

“We urge you not to grant any new subsidies to wood-burning power stations in the UK,” they wrote.

It comes as the current system of biomass subsidies is due to end in 2027.

Early this year, Rishi Sunak’s Government held a consultation on new subsidy proposals to bridge support until the early 2030s when carbon capture systems are expected to be operating at plants.

Ministers proposed several years of new, so-called “transitional” subsidies for Drax and possibly Lynemouth Power Station which, according to its impact assessment, could come to £2.5 billion a year.

The environmental groups are urging Mr Miliband and the new Government to use the money on renewable energy such as wind and solar power instead.

Proponents of biomass say that it can create carbon-neutral energy because trees and other plants first absorb carbon, then are burnt and release the same carbon back into the atmosphere.

However, critics say this assumes the companies only use sustainable wood in their boilers.

Investigations by the BBC and others alleged that Drax has used wood from environmentally important forests across the world.

Drax has said it is confident its biomass is sustainable and legally harvested.

Adam Colette of Dogwood Alliance, based in North Carolina, 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.”

Paulo Pimenta de Castro, from the Acrescimo green group, said: “In Portugal, the production of pellets for energy, which is mostly for export, as well as the direct burning of biomass have caused a significant tree cover loss, affecting native species, namely pine and oak trees.

“This loss is associated with the expansion of eucalyptus plantations and the invasion by acacia, which have a growing impact on forest fires.”

Len Vanderstar, director of Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition in British Columbia, said: “Given that the world has approached and even exceeded tipping points with respect to global warming, the solution to climate change is not further de-greening of the planet via logging of forests, in part or in full, for purposes of wood pellet production.”

An Energy Department (DESNZ) spokesperson said: “Investing in clean power is the route to ending the UK’s energy insecurity and tackling the climate crisis.

“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.

“The subsidies for large-scale biomass generators will end in 2027 and we are reviewing evidence on potential support beyond this.”

A Drax spokesperson said: “The claims made in this letter are completely at odds with internationally recognised approaches to carbon accounting and forestry management.

“Drax is committed to ensuring the biomass we source delivers positive outcomes for the climate, for nature and for the communities in which we operate, and our approach is informed by science, regulated by governments in the regions in which we operate and independently assessed so that we deliver bioenergy the right way

“Biomass has been critical to enabling the UK to come off coal over the last decade and is now essential to the country’s energy security.

“When the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine, Drax Power Station keeps the country’s lights on with reliable renewable power.”