Connect with us

Published

on

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.

More from Climate

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.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

World’s energy tastes are changing

How sustainable is biomass?

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.”

Continue Reading

UK

Man charged with 64 offences after investigation at Hull funeral home

Published

on

By

Man charged with 64 offences after investigation at Hull funeral home

A man has been charged with 64 offences in connection with an investigation into a Hull funeral directors, Humberside Police has said.

An investigation was launched into Legacy Independent Funeral Directors after officers received reports of concern for the care of the deceased in March 2024.

Following a 10-month investigation by Humberside Police, Robert Bush, 47, formerly of Kirk Ella, East Yorkshire, has been charged with 64 offences.

The force says the charges include 30 counts of prevention of a lawful and decent burial and 30 counts of fraud by false representation relating to the deceased recovered from the funeral premises.

Bush has also been charged with two counts of theft from charities and one count of fraudulent trading in relation to funeral plans – encompassing 172 victims – between 23 May 2012 and 6 March last year.

He also faces one count of fraud in relation to human ashes involving 50 victims between 1 August 2017 and March 2024.

The force said the charges related to 254 victims in total – comprising 252 people and two charities.

Police recovered 35 bodies during a raid on the funeral directors in March last year.

In April 2024, the force confirmed that it was impossible to identify any of the human ashes using DNA profiles.

Bush has been bailed with conditions and will appear at Hull Magistrates’ Court on 25 June.

In a statement, deputy chief constable Dave Marshall said the force had updated the families of 35 deceased with the development and has made initial contact with additional victims who may have been affected.

“My sincerest thanks go out to those affected for their patience and understanding,” he said.

“They have always been the priority and at the very heart of the entire investigation and this will remain, and we would please ask their privacy is continued to be respected.”

A 55-year-old woman arrested in July 2024 has today been released with no further action to be taken.

Continue Reading

UK

Heathrow bosses ‘warned about substation’ days before major power outage, MP committee hears

Published

on

By

Heathrow bosses 'warned about substation' days before major power outage, MP committee hears

Heathrow Airport bosses had been warned of a potential substation failures less than a week before a major power outage closed the airport for a day, a committee of MPs has heard.

The chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee Nigel Wicking told MPs of the Transport Committee he raised issues about resilience on 15 March after cable and wiring took out lights on a runway.

A fire at an electricity substation in west London meant the power supply was disrupted to Europe’s largest airport for a day – causing travel chaos for around 200,000 passengers.

“I’d actually warned Heathrow of concerns that we had with regard to the substations and my concern was resilience”, Mr Wicking said.

“So the first occasion was to team Heathrow director on the 15th of the month of March. And then I also spoke to the chief operating officer and chief customer officer two days before regarding this concern.

“And it was following a number of, a couple of incidents of, unfortunately, theft, of wire and cable around some of the power supply that on one of those occasions, took out the lights on the runway for a period of time. That obviously made me concerned.”

Mr Wicking also said he believed Heathrow’s Terminal 5 could have been ready to receive repatriation flights by “late morning” on the day of the closure, and that “there was opportunity also to get flights out”.

However, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said keeping the airport open during last month’s power outage would have been “disastrous”.

There was a risk of having “literally tens of thousands of people stranded in the airport, where we have nowhere to put them”, Mr Woldbye said.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

UK

Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after ‘prolific’ rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

Published

on

By

Zhenhao Zou: More than 20 new potential victims come forward after 'prolific' rapist jailed for assaulting 10 women

Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.

The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.

Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.

“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”

Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
Image:
Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth

Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.

Read more: How a student described as ‘smart and charming’ was unmasked as a prolific sexual predator

More on China

He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.

“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.

“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.

“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”

***ONLY USE IF HE IS CONVICTED OF AT LEAST TWO RAPES***It is feared Zou may have carried out dozens more sex crimes. Pic: Met Police
Image:
Pic: Met Police

Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.

He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.

Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Moment police arrest rapist student

Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.

“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.

“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.

“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”

Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”

Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”

The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.

Continue Reading

Trending