Drax’s former top lobbyist, Rowaa Ahmar, has accused it of “misleading the public, government and its regulator” over its sourcing of wood for biomass pellets, in a claim for unfair dismissal filed against the energy company at an employment tribunal
Drax is one of the UK’s leading energy companies. Over the past few years, it has converted the Yorkshire power station to run on biomass pellets instead of coal as part of the UK’s push to decarbonise.
Burning biomass emits carbon dioxide, but this is counted as carbon neutral in the UK under international carbon accounting rules. That treatment is controversial, with critics questioning whether trees are regrown fast enough to make up for emissions released at the smokestack.
Drax makes wood pellets for its own stations and also supplies others. It sources wood from forests around the world, including the US and Canada.
In October 2022, BBC Panorama broadcast a documentary claiming Drax had cut down primary forests in Canada to turn into wood pellets and used high-quality wood, raising questions over the company’s claims to produce and use “sustainable” biomass.
Ahmar said evidence pointed to Drax “being unable to prove that it only sourced sustainable wood for its biomass, and that it was in fact using unsustainable wood”.
In her opening submission to the court, Ahmar continued: “In the weeks after the programme aired, as part of her work, the claimant received information that increasingly demonstrated that the allegations in the Panorama programme were correct and that Drax had been misleading the public, government and its regulator (Ofgem).
It comes weeks after the UK government said it had agreed to continue subsidising Drax’s flagship biomass-fuelled power plant in Yorkshire after its current subsidy arrangement runs out in 2027.
However, Ofgem said it did not find any evidence to suggest Drax should not have been eligible for “renewables obligation” subsidies. Under the scheme, at least 70 per cent of the biomass burned has to be sustainable.