Drax plant is still burning wood from ancient trees, experts say

Drax power plant has continued to burn 250-year-old trees sourced from some of Canada’s oldest forests despite growing scrutiny of its sustainability claims, forestry experts say.

- Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

A report suggests it is “highly likely” Britain’s biggest power plant sourced some wood from ecologically valuable forests as recently as this summer.

Drax, Britain’s single biggest source of carbon emissions, has received billions of pounds in subsidies from burning biomass derived largely from wood.

The report, by Stand.earth, a Canadian environmental nonprofit, claims that a subsidiary of Drax Group received hundreds of truckloads of whole logs at its biomass pellet sites throughout 2024 and into 2025 that were likely to have included trees that were hundreds of years old.

The report could raise fresh questions for the owner of the North Yorkshire power plant, which has been forced in recent years to defend its sustainability claims while receiving more than £2m a day in green energy subsidies from UK bill payers.