Green activists fear that ministers who are preparing to grant billions of pounds in new benefits Drax The power plant, although strong concerns that burning trees to produce electricity is bad for the environment.
Drax Burns Wood to generate about 8 % of “green” energy in the UK, and 4 % of the total electricity. This is classified as “low carbon” because the watered trees are replaced by others who take the carbon from the air while growing.
but Several studies have shown that burning wood is harmful to the environment, by destroying the forestsBecause of a decades -long chronology between the immediate release of carbon dioxide2 From combustion and growth to maturity of alternative trees.
Drax currently He receives billions of pounds in support from energy billsBy about 2 million pounds per day, according to Greenpeace, but it is scheduled to Running in 2027. A government decision can come about whether the support payments should be continued outside the cut on Monday.
Activists fear that the ministers will allow the unrestricted Drax to continue to burn the biomus, which one said will be “incredibly bad news.” Another option is to impose strict time limits on subsidies, or a Drax claim to use and store carbon capture technology (CCS), which can reduce climate damage but still allows the trees widely destroyed.
Granting new subsidies for Drax will be very controversial between exhaustion Representatives. The Guardian witnessed messages from parliamentarians who were sent to the Financial Behavior Authority and the Financial Reports Council, and inquired about Drax’s demands for environmental sustainability.
Many of their peers and deputy for at least one of the financial organizers requested an investigation procedure in Drax, in part to the results of the energy regulator, OffGem, that the company has offended reporting data about the assets and sustainability of imported wooden pellets.
Last month of Green Thinktank E3G found that the government can achieve its goal of removing the UK electricity carbon by 2030 without Drax.
Matt Williams, the chief defender of the Natural Resources Defense Council, described Drax’s decision as a decisive test of the government’s green plans. “if [ministers] Granting usual business subsidies, which will be incredibly bad news for forests, and anyone who cares about them. He said that the other billions for the largest individual pollution in the United Kingdom would explain that the government puts all its bets on high -carbon infrastructure.
But if they put restrictions in time or the amount of subsidies, this indicates that the government was thinking twice in this matter, and it could indicate the beginning of the end [for biomass subsidies]”
Over Drax is the latest in a series of differences that have warned activists risk while giving the impression The work was sacrificed with his green adoption data in the pursuit of economic growth. Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, gave the green light to a A new runway in HeathrowAnd it is believed that some allies want it to give the green light to Rose Banka pink oil field in the North Sea.
Whitehall source said that the Treasury was not involved in decisions on Drax.
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“In order to burn wood in real green [it] It needs a lot of very specific requirements that Drax has not made. Continuing to support huge biomass imports will not be a step towards a cleaner future, but it is a dirty compromise with previous failures. “
He added: “This government stood in a statement to provide clean energy by 2030, and to address the state of climate emergency. Whether it is the third runway of Heathrow or the potential declaration of new oil and gas developments, the government’s commitment to stop climate change began to appear slightly tense about the edges. It will be more mass. The vitality in Drax is another decision that is likely to make climate crises and nature worse, not better. “
Climate Change Committee, Climate Climate Adviser It is possible that the issue of burning the vital mass of power is possible in its advice on the seventh carbon budgetWhich will be published on February 26. The previous advice strongly warned the ministers against giving up burning the vital mass of power, unless it is equipped with CCS.
The government refused to comment. Drax spokesman refused to comment on future subsidies. He said that the company had previously announced that it could use CCS from the early thirties.
