With a new Government just elected, it’s vital that we ensure all new MPs are aware of the harmful impacts of the woody biomass industry, and oppose any new subsidies for tree burning.
Earlier this year, the previous Government proposed and consulted on granting brand new subsidies to fund planet-wrecking tree burning at power stations like Drax in Yorkshire and Lynemouth in Northumberland. This would keep tree-burning power stations going for years after their current subsidies are due to end 2027, at our expense paid for by our energy bills. The new Government is now deciding whether to go ahead with granting these new tree-burning subsidies.
Please write to your MP asking them to stop the new subsidies for burning trees in UK power stations.
The climate impacts of new subsidies for burning trees would be catastrophic. Drax is the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burner. In 2023 alone, Drax emitted over 11 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere from burning wood.
Much of the wood that Drax and Lynemouth burn comes from the logging of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in the Southern USA, Canada, Estonia and Latvia, with devastating impacts on forests, wildlife and communities.
New subsidies for burning wood won’t do anything to lower our energy bills, or help to tackle the climate emergency, with scientists around the world warning that burning wood for energy increases global warming for decades to centuries.
Drax is already receiving nearly £2m per day from UK bill payers to burn trees whilst making record profits. According to the consultation, the cost of new subsidies to UK bill payers could be anything up to £2.5 billion a year. This is money that will not be available to support a transition to genuinely renewable wind and solar power.
We say: no more. No more wasting our money on dirty tree burning. No more funding of an industry that is driving environmental injustice, wrecking ecosystems and ruining our chances at a liveable future by clearing the very forests we need to absorb carbon emissions.
MPs can take action to stop these wood-burning subsidies and to transfer the funding to real climate solutions like home insulation and wind and solar power. This would create new green jobs and help protect forests, wildlife, communities and the climate.
For the sake of our planet, we need as many people as possible to speak out and tell their MPs to stop new tree-burning subsidies. With a new Government, we have the chance to get these proposals entirely rejected. But we need your help to do this.
Will you write to your MP today to call on them to say no to new subsidies for burning trees in UK power stations?