Since it began to change from burning coal 15 years ago, Drax has got through the equivalent of 300 million trees. Most – and currently all – of this wood was imported from North America because we just do not grow enough here. You would have to burn the entire New Forest every two years just to fuel this one power station.
Drax is strangely reluctant to boast about its unique activity. In a lengthy statement released this week to justify its wood burning, its spokesman managed to avoid using the words ‘wood’ and ‘tree’ altogether, preferring to talk about ‘biomass’.
‘We understand that we need to do more to demonstrate that the biomass we use is genuinely sustainable and that we are taking the necessary steps to operate our business responsibly,’ said the spokesman.
Drax is Britain’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, another record the company refrains from mentioning. It produced nearly 12 million tonnes of the gas in 2023, which is significantly more than when it was burning coal.
That is not counting the emissions from the diesel trucks that bring the trees from the forests to where they are turned into pellets; from the diesel-powered ships that bring the pellets across the Atlantic; or from the trains that finally bring the fuel from the Tyne to Drax.
Incredibly, Drax’s 12 million tonnes of emissions are not included in Britain’s carbon accounts. They are deemed to be emitted in Canada and America – even though the combustion happens in North Yorkshire.
Hellbound and Down 