Government can’t prove biomass industry meets sustainability rules, National Audit Office says
The government has been challenged by auditors to prove the UK’s controversial biomass industry meets sustainability rules.
Biomass involves burning wood or plants to create heat, electricity or transport fuel, and the industry receives hundreds of millions of pounds in annual government support.
But the National Audit Office (NAO) has now said the government “cannot demonstrate” that biomass companies are complying with sustainability rules, because it is not measuring them properly.
Shares in Drax, the UK’s largest biomass generator, fell 10% when the NAO announced the probe in September.
It comes as the government considers extending financial support for the industry, which its climate advisers have warned does not provide good value for money.
However, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) also agrees that biomass will help the UK economy move away from fossil fuels.
Biomass provided 11% of the UK’s electricity in 2022, and there are plans to add technology to the UK’s largest plant, Drax, that would remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help offset emissions from other industries.
The energy security department last summer committed to tightening up its sustainability rules.
Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC), said: “Biomass could have a key role in achieving net zero, but only if it is genuinely sustainable.”
The government should “urgently review its assurance arrangements, so it knows that the billions of pounds of consumer and taxpayer-funded support are helping the UK meet its climate targets”, she added.
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Selaine Saxby MP said the science on the technology [of biomass] had changed since the UK first began subsidising it as a way to replace polluting coal-power.
“Far more sustainable options have now been developed and improved, such as solar, wind and nuclear power generation, and I call on the government to support these technologies over biomass energy generation.”
The government classes biomass as renewable because new trees and plants absorb the carbon dioxide emitted when the biomass pellets are burned – though the climate impact is disputed.
This status entitles the industry to government financial support – such as via the Renewables Obligation and Contracts for Difference schemes – totalling £22bn in the last two decades.
The CCC considers biomass to be low-carbon only if generators follow sustainability criteria to prove their wood has been sourced sustainably.
The government “has not evaluated whether its current arrangements are effective at ensuring compliance”, the NAO said today as it published its probe.
If biomass is not as climate-friendly as the government expects, it may have to do more elsewhere to “achieve its net zero target”, such as looking at other ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or reducing power demand through behaviour change, the NAO said.
Rob Gross, director of UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and professor at Imperial College London, said biomass was useful because it was “dispatchable” – meaning the amount of energy it provides can be adjusted to meet demand.
“In principle it should be possible to ensure the supply chain is sustainable on multiple criteria, but this is difficult to achieve in practice,” he said. “It isn’t just carbon. Biodiversity remains a concern too.”
‘No surprises’ in biomass report
Investment analysts at Barclays said there were “no surprises” in the NAO’s findings that “high standards are required for further support”.
Likewise, JP Morgan said: “This report should be taken well by investors, as there was a risk that the NAO said that biomass subsidies were not ‘value for money’, which has not been said.”
Both Drax and the government welcomed the NAO’s findings, saying they too are committed to stronger sustainability rules.
A Drax spokesperson said: “The NAO acknowledges the important role that sustainably sourced biomass has to play in addressing the climate crisis and displacing fossil fuels in the production of dispatchable electricity.
“It’s essential that sustainability reporting and criteria are robust and fit for purpose. This was also recognised in the government’s biomass strategy published last year, which outlined a review which has already begun.”
A spokesperson for the energy security and net zero department said: “We welcome the NAO’s report, which found no evidence of firms not complying with our stringent sustainability criteria, which are in line with internationally recognised standards.
“As set out in the Biomass Strategy, we will be consulting later this year on how we can go further.”
They said generators “only legally [receive] subsidies if they prove they have complied with our strict rules.”
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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