Food Nature Climate

Rowaa Ahmar was employed by @DraxGroup in 2022, when a @BBC Panorama documentary alleged it used wood from healthy forests in Canada instead of waste wood. Ms. Ahmar claims she was dismissed after raising concerns of a cover-up with senior figures. telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/0…

Rowaa Ahmar accused @DraxGroup of “misleading the public, government and its regulator” over its sourcing of wood. During her employment, Drax faced allegations that it sourced wood from important Canadian forests instead of using sawdust and waste wood. cityam.com/drax-misled-go…

Rowaa Ahmar claims that she was unfairly dismissed by @DraxGroup months after setting out concerns to executives around its claimed use of sustainable wood. She says her whistleblowing complaints set in motion her “slow death” at the company. thetimes.com/article/9edfde…

The chief executive of @ofgem has admitted that it cannot ensure @DraxGroup only uses sustainable wood. Jonathan Brearley said it wasn’t ‘practical’ to ensure every part of the wood-burning power station supply chain was monitored. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

Prolonging reliance on "polluting and expensive" bioenergy "could risk undermining our climate targets and will only increase costs for the consumer and worsen pressures on our valuable and finite land resources." - @ruairi_brogan, @Natures_Voice community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/natu…

A new Contracts for Difference (CfD) agreement between the UK Government and @DraxGroup stipulates that generation will be reduced to when it is “really” needed. Its hours of generation should halve. Subsidies will be reduced by around £170m per year. edie.net/drax-biomass-p…

The government has halved subsidies for the @DraxGroup power station and ordered it to use 100% sustainable wood. The large power plant in North Yorkshire would play a “much more limited role," operating less than half as often as it currently does. theguardian.com/business/2025/…

"Continuing to subsidise huge biomass imports is not a step on the road to a cleaner future, but a dirty compromise with past failures. Trees should be left to grow and not be burnt in a major subsidy-fuelled bonfire." @doug_parr, @GreenpeaceUK thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/…

New subsidies have been announced for @DraxGroup. Energy Minister @mgshanks said the government recognised the “strength of concerns” about using unabated biomass – which does not have technology to permanently store the carbon emissions it produces. standard.co.uk/business/busin…

New subsidies have been announced for wood-burning @DraxGroup, which the government said would halve costs for consumers. But they say it cannot operate in the same way, or with the same level of subsidy, which enabled “unacceptably large profits.” independent.co.uk/business/new-s…

The government has agreed a new funding arrangement with the @DraxGroup power station that it says halve subsidies. The power station will be used only as a back-up to cheaper renewables. Critics have called it one of the UK's leading emitters of CO2. bbc.com/news/articles/…

“This means more destruction of the world’s forests and the climate. Every single tree burned in a UK power station is one tree too many. . . It will be paid far more handsomely for burning trees than truly clean technologies.” - @mattadamw, @NRDC telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/…

Ed Miliband has agreed to hand an estimated £2bn of taxpayer subsidies to a controversial wood-burning power station operated by @DraxGroup. Based on current electricity price forecasts, Drax is on course to receive £530m of support in 2027 alone. telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/…

“People have started doubting this government’s commitment to the environment. More subsidies for @DraxGroup only adds fuel to those growing doubts. . . Every single tree burned in a UK power station is one tree too many.” - @mattadamw, @NRDC theguardian.com/environment/20…

When the government announced it would continue subsidies for biomass burning at the @DraxGroup power station, beyond 2027 when the current payments end, the news appeared a blow to green campaigners. Others believe the settlement could have been worse. theguardian.com/environment/20…

@DraxGroup was required to report to @ofgem that it sourced wood from primary forests in British Columbia, but data obtained by the @BBC through environmental information requests shows it failed to do so in its submissions to the regulator for 2020-21. bbc.com/news/articles/…

A UK power station that has received billions of pounds in government subsidies has failed repeatedly to report it burned wood from primary forests, @BBCNews found. Public logging records show @DraxGroup still sources whole trees from primary forests. bbc.com/news/articles/…

The @DraxGroup power station has received billions of pounds in subsidies from the government and bill-payers. @BBC's discovery of further misreporting of sustainability data comes as the government is expected to announce a subsidy extension imminently. bbc.com/news/articles/…

Data obtained by the @BBC shows @DraxGroup failed to declare any wood from primary forests in the sustainability data it submitted to @ofgem regarding its Canadian wood pellets for the year 2020-21, when it burned over 1.2 million tonnes of pellets. bbc.com/news/articles/…

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean claims that @DraxGroup's sustainability argument is “mad,” based on “cutting down trees in North America, turning them into pellets, dragging them across the Atlantic Ocean using diesel-powered ships … and then burning them.” thetimes.com/comment/column…