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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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.”
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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