Drax biomass subsidies
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
- Standard-setters and registries EU directive and UK emissions trading system: The emission factor of biomass is zero; the second Renewable Energy Directive allowed all trees to be burned.
- Researchers Scientists' letters (January 2018: 650–800 signatories; February 2021: more than 500): Deliberately cutting and burning trees creates a carbon debt lasting decades; burning wood initially emits two to three times more carbon than fossil fuels per kWh, and the EU rule does not count it.
- Government and regulators European Parliament: Did not accept the 2018 request to limit renewable forest biomass to residues and waste; in the April 2023 directive its proposed cap on primary wood was dropped, direct support for certain high-value wood categories was banned and tax advantages were not.
- International bodies International Renewable Energy Agency: Defines renewable energy as produced sustainably from renewable sources and lists bioenergy first; the definition has no measure of sustainability.
The Drax power station in the United Kingdom burns wood pellets that are counted as renewable and subsidised. Ember reported a record subsidy of £999 million for 2025 and £8.72 billion since 2012.
Ember, July 2026. 2025 alone: £999m (record), about £13 per household per year.
Status As of July 2026: Ember reported a record £999m subsidy and 14.1 Mt CO₂e of emissions for 2025; no independently verified enforcement outcome is in the record.
What happened
The Drax power station in the United Kingdom burns wood pellets. UK official statistics count the electricity as renewable, and the UK emissions trading system applies the rule in the EU directive under which the emission factor of biomass is zero.
According to an analysis by Ember published on 9 July 2026, Drax received a record £999 million in subsidy in 2025, about £13 per household per year, and £8.72 billion in total since 2012. Ember reported that the plant emitted 14.1 million tonnes of CO₂e in 2025, more than four times the second-largest source, the Pembroke gas plant. Of the 7.5 million tonnes of wood burned, more than 99% was imported and 86.7% came from the United States and Canada.
The International Renewable Energy Agency's founding statute defines renewable energy as energy produced sustainably from renewable sources and lists bioenergy first; the definition contains no measure of what counts as sustainable.
In January 2018, between 650 and 800 scientists asked the European Parliament to limit renewable forest biomass to residues and waste, saying that deliberately cutting and burning trees creates a “carbon debt” lasting decades. Parliament did not accept the change, and the second Renewable Energy Directive allowed all trees to be burned. In February 2021 more than 500 scientists wrote to five leaders saying that burning wood initially emits two to three times more carbon than fossil fuels and that the EU rule does not count it. In the third directive, adopted in April 2023, Parliament's proposed cap on primary wood was dropped; direct support for certain high-value wood categories was banned, but tax advantages were not.
Enviva, a wood-pellet producer, left bankruptcy protection in 2024, with about US$1.0 billion of debt cleared and US$250 million of new capital; Mongabay reported that Enviva had supplied about 15% of Drax's fuel.
- 1996Drax installs flue-gas desulphurisation; sulphur emissions fall by more than 90%
- 2012Start of the £8.72bn total subsidy counted by Ember
- 2018650–800 scientists write to the European Parliament about renewable forest biomass (January)
- 2021More than 500 scientists write to five leaders (February)
- 2023Third Renewable Energy Directive: Parliament's cap on primary wood dropped (April)
- 2024Enviva leaves bankruptcy protection
- 2025Record subsidy of £999m; plant emits 14.1 Mt CO₂e
- 2026Ember publishes its analysis (9 July)
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
The emission factor of biomass is zero; the second Renewable Energy Directive allowed all trees to be burned.
Deliberately cutting and burning trees creates a carbon debt lasting decades; burning wood initially emits two to three times more carbon than fossil fuels per kWh, and the EU rule does not count it.
Did not accept the 2018 request to limit renewable forest biomass to residues and waste; in the April 2023 directive its proposed cap on primary wood was dropped, direct support for certain high-value wood categories was banned and tax advantages were not.
Defines renewable energy as produced sustainably from renewable sources and lists bioenergy first; the definition has no measure of sustainability.
How it looked
Shown
- The plant's output is counted as “renewable” in official UK statistics and attracts a subsidy.UK official statistics
Recorded
- 2025 subsidy: £999m, a record; total since 2012: £8.72bn; about £13 per household per year.
- 2025 emissions: 14.1 Mt CO₂e, more than four times the second-largest UK source (Pembroke gas plant).
- Wood burned in 2025: 7.5 Mt, more than 99% imported, 86.7% from the United States and Canada.
- The UK emissions trading system uses the EU rule that the emission factor of biomass is zero.
- In 1996 Drax installed flue-gas desulphurisation, cutting its sulphur emissions by more than 90%; the cost was borne by the plants and, through them, electricity consumers.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
- Disputed Should the carbon released by burning forest biomass count as zero?
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the energy regulator Ofgem found that Drax misreported its 2021–2022 Canadian import data, Drax agreed to pay £25m, and Ofgem called the breach technical and found no intent. the sources reviewed put this at about 0.29% of the £8.72bn subsidy received since 2012.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Ofgem found no evidence that Drax failed the 70% sustainability threshold; the finding concerned data reporting.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a BBC Panorama programme in October 2022 showed that Drax's subsidiary Pinnacle held logging licences in British Columbia in areas containing old-growth forest, and later reporting said more than 40,000 tonnes of wood from old-growth forest were taken in 2023; Drax said it used only sawdust and waste wood.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the Drax pellet plant in Gloster, Mississippi, received air-pollution fines of US$2.5m in 2020 and US$225,000 in 2024.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Ember estimated that Drax's move to biomass with carbon capture would need about £30bn of further subsidy.
- Unclear The number of signatories to the 2018 scientists' letter is given as 650 to 800 depending on the source.
- None on record Drax's own public response to the sourcing and subsidy questions is not recorded in the verified material.
Did the harm stop?
The subsidy was still being paid in 2025 and emissions were reported at 14.1 Mt CO₂e that year.
Who paid?
According to Ember, the 2025 subsidy cost about £13 per household per year in the United Kingdom.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Enviva bankruptcy fallout ripples through biomass industry, U.S. and EUMongabay · 2024-04
Communities and civil society
- UK's largest emitter Drax reports record emissions in 2025Ember · 2026-07-09
- Looking back over 40 years (acid rain)AirClim Acid News · 2021-05
Connected cases
- EU woody biomass and Enviva pellets United Kingdom · 2012–2026 Related matter
- Drax Group (Company) — here: Operator of the power station; there: UK power station burning wood pellets
- Enviva (Company) — here: Wood-pellet producer; reported supplier of about 15% of Drax's fuel; there: US wood-pellet producer and supplier to Drax
- British Columbia's 13.2 million hectare old-growth count is challenged Canada · 2020
- Drax Group (Company) — here: Operator of the power station; there: Biomass plant operator; UK subsidy recipient