FORTY-ONE environmental organizations from countries that export wood pellets to the UK have today written to Secretary of State Ed Miliband, urging him not to give in to lobbying by Drax for new subsidies once existing support runs out in 2027. [1] Drax power station in Yorkshire burns more wood than any other plant in the world, all of it (nearly 6 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2023) imported. The UK pays more subsidies for burning wood, mostly in power stations, than any other country in Europe, and Drax is by far the biggest recipient of those subsidies. The previous government 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 majority of the wood pellets burned at Drax come from the southeastern USA and Canada.

Adam Colette of Dogwood Alliance, [2] based in North Carolina, says: “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 subsidizing planet destroying companies.”

Len Vanderstar, a director of the Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition in British Columbia [3], adds: “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 the planet via logging its forests, in part or in full, for purposes of wood pellet production.”

Drax also burns substantial quantities of wood pellets from Latvia, Estonia and Portugal.

Liina Steinberg, Board Member of Save Estonia’s Forests [4] says: “The pressure on Estonia’s forests continue to rapidly increase. Demand by the forest biomass industry, including for export to the UK is in addition to growing demand for pulp and paper and biochemicals. In order to provide all of this wood, new legislative proposals—strongly supported by industry—foresee the first ever large-scale tree plantations in Estonia, as well as weakening protections of supposedly protected nature areas.”

Viesturs Ķerus from the Latvian Ornithological Society [5] states “In Latvia, we are witnessing declines in populations of forest species we are supposed to protect, forest habitats of international importance are being destroyed and we have lost the forest carbon sink. Though there are several factors involved, the subsidized demand for biomass for burning by the UK and other countries is undoubtedly an important driver behind this degradation of our forests.”

Paulo Pimenta de Castro from the Acréscimo [6] adds: “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.”

The groups that signed the letter are urging the government to use the money saved by not granting new subsidies to Drax and Lynemouth Power to support genuinely low-carbon, clean renewable energy such as wind and solar power instead.

Notes:

[1] The letter can be viewed at docs.google.com/document/d/1llpP9kgBVOBuibyswDmE1wGp5wf_jk4J95ptaOIewIk/edit .

[2] Dogwood Alliance is a non-profit organization which promotes environmental justice and climate action by mobilizing diverse voices to protect Southern forests and communities from industrial logging: dogwoodalliance.org/

[3] Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition is a volunteer-run organization that works to protect the natural environment in Bulkley Valley, which is located in the northwest Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada,

[4] Latvian Ornithological Society is the Latvian member group of BirdLife International: lob.lv/

[5] Save Estonia’s Forests is a grassroots movement that seeks to improve the protection of forests in Estonia: savetheforest.ee/en/

[6] Acréscimo is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve the conservation and management of forests in Portugal: https://www.facebook.com/acrescimo/