Scientists join protest at AGM of Drax, Britain’s largest carbon emitter
Scientists have joined a coalition of environmental campaign groups at a demonstration outside the annual general meeting of Drax - Britain’s largest single emitter of carbon dioxide. Their protest aims to draw attention to the misleading sustainability claims made by the company, highlighting that burning an estimated 6.5 millions tonnes of imported wood annually in its Yorkshire power station cannot be considered a ‘carbon neutral’ climate solution.
This afternoon scientists in white lab coats joined other protesters from the Stop Burning Trees coalition [1] outside the meeting at 200 Aldersgate in London, bringing the harm being done by Drax's bioenergy operation to the attention of shareholders and financial journalists. Drax Group plc is a private company heavily funded by public subsidy in the name of ‘clean energy’. Their main enterprise is Drax Power Station in Yorkshire, where wood pellets from their international supply chain are burned to generate electricity. A loophole in legislation has allowed the UK government to exclude Drax’s emissions from national totals, but this does not mean that the CO₂ and other pollutants generated have any less harmful an impact.
The public face of Drax’s operation portrays it as pioneering renewable energy giant, responsibly using sawdust, offcuts and waste wood to power the UK. In reality Drax takes wood from complex forest ecosystems thousands of miles away that are not capable of renewing themselves within a meaningful timeframe, if at all [2]. Tragically, the power generated from burning this wood may emit even more CO₂ per unit of energy than coal; Drax is inefficient, as well as unsustainable.
Today, SkyNews reports that Drax has been told by its own scientific advisers to stop calling biomass 'carbon neutral' [3].
Drax is a long-standing scandal; not only do its supposedly 'sustainable' operations accelerate dangerous climate change and biodiversity loss, but its use of bill-payer funded renewable energy subsidies in the process detracts from the development of genuinely renewable power solutions fit for a low carbon future. Drax continues to lobby for further government funding, particularly for ‘Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage’ (BECCS). This future ‘techno-fix’ is not currently being used anywhere in the world at industrial scale, and by Drax's own projections would not start to store any CO₂ for several more years, time in which we cannot afford to delay decarbonisation.
There are safer, fairer and more sustainable ways forward for fossil-free energy than those offered by Drax. During a cost-of-living crisis and a time of climate and ecological collapse, it is essential that funding and commitment is given to genuinely effective climate and social action. These include improvements in public transport, home insulation and sustainable agriculture as well as investment in truly renewable energy and low carbon jobs.
Following four days of protests in Westminster, The Big One - which involved over 200 organisations and tens of thousands of individuals [4], Scientists for XR [5] are keeping up pressure on the UK government, finance sector, business communities, academic and cultural institutions to listen to the science and re-align their actions to confront the Climate and Ecological Emergency.
Quotes from scientists.
"As numerous studies have shown, this burning of wood will increase warming for decades to centuries. That is true even when the wood replaces coal, oil or natural gas." from a letter signed by over 500 scientists to President Biden and other world leaders regarding the use of forest biomass for energy [6].
“At a time where it could not be more essential to reduce the harm being caused to our climate, to nature and to communities around the world, Drax are exacerbating the problems whilst saying they're part of the solution. Their highly misleading sustainability claims delay and prevent genuinely effective action, making it even more essential to challenge them loudly.” - Dr Abi Perrin, biologist from York who participated in the protest outside the meeting.
“Drax aren’t even trying to restore the forests they’re burning. Even if they were, their carbon emissions wouldn’t be drawn down from the atmosphere for centuries or longer. The hypocrisy is staggering. Earth continues to heat up - and our government think it’s OK to call this renewable energy?” - Dr. Susi Arnott, biologist from London who participated in the protest outside the meeting.
“Drax sources wood mostly from the Southern USA and Canada, and processes them there before shipping them to the UK. This means that the environmental and health impacts of the wood pellet industry are being felt by communities that do not enjoy the benefits of the energy they're used to generate. This practice is unjust on many levels" -
Dr Tristram Wyatt, Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford, who participated in the protest outside the meeting.
Google drive for the detailed information behind the statements on our placards, and photos and videos from the AGM protests: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zWpzbF096wI93bZCujT5G8XXqeMWvE_i?usp=sharing
Notes
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cw6z, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63089348
[5] https://www.scientistsforxr.earth/