June 2023
Letter to the Prime Minister
There has been a remarkable erosion of backbench support for the burning of wood in our power stations as a form of renewable energy.
Over the last two years over 100 backbench MPs have through, signing letters or the application for last December’s debate, indicated that they have severe reservations.
Over recent weeks the arguments against this practice have grown stronger.
Ofgem has now launched a formal investigation into Drax over its claims for renewable subsidies.
We have also had the revelation that Drax’s internal advisers - led by the former Government chief scientific officer Professor Sir John Beddington - will no longer permit the company to call its burning of wood “carbon neutral”.
As the Government finalises its biomass strategy, I led on writing a cross-party letter to the Prime Minister urging for a reconsideration of subsidies for Biomass energy.
It is critical in our battle against climate change to stop burning trees in UK power stations. It undermines our global credibility because it is pouring more CO2 into the atmosphere.
The experiment started in 2004 with 50,000 willow trees all sourced from Yorkshire. Since then, in a classic case of ‘bait-and-switch’ we now burn 27 million trees a year with every single one imported. To give an idea of the scale, the New Forest only contains 46 million trees. The imported trees are being hauled across the Atlantic in polluting ships.
Of still greater concern is that, according to the IPCC, burning trees creates even more CO2 emissions than burning coal.
Yet despite this harm, UK consumers have been forced to pay £6 billion in renewable subsidies.
The experiment must end. We should leave trees in the ground.
There must be no further subsidies for burning trees in our power stations beyond the current 2027 contracts. It is undermining public confidence in the push towards Net Zero.
The Government should reconsider its current position.
