Drax Should Have No Place In UK Climate Plan

LONDON — For years, energy giant Drax has promised British ministers it can help keep the lights on — while limiting the harm. Those pledges are now in serious doubt.

The biomass company, which generates energy by burning wood pellets imported to its Yorkshire plant, has been backed by successive British governments since 2014.

It had pledged that, in the near future, vast carbon capture facilities will catch and bury its harmful emissions before they enter the atmosphere.

Subsidies for Drax represent some of the most high-profile British government support for green energy. And the addition of carbon capture — using a largely untested technology, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) — was considered essential for the country to hit legally-binding goals on driving down U.K. emissions to net zero by 2050. 

But in February, Drax signaled that it’s ditching those plans — leaving a substantial hole in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s green dreams, and raising questions about the ability of Whitehall to lock down promises given by energy firms.

The firm’s financial results highlighted “the reduced likelihood of the [BECCS] project proceeding in the short to medium term.” Drax now “expects to commit limited resources [to carbon capture] for the foreseeable future,” the documents said.

The company blames the regulatory landscape in the U.K. for its decision.

“In March 2023, we paused our investment in the U.K. BECCS project owing to lack of certainty on the required policy support,” a Drax spokesperson said. “This includes the appropriate commercial and regulatory agreements for carbon removals in the U.K. and the development of [carbon capture] infrastructure in the Humber.”