'Large-scale' biomass must end after 2027 to help UK reach net zero, major report says

It has set out what it says is a deliverable and cost-effective route to the greenhouse gas emissions cuts required from 2038 to 2042 to ensure the UK meets the legally-binding goal to cut climate pollution to zero overall – known as net zero – by 2050.

Around a third of the emissions cuts in the period will have to come from action by households, mainly buying an electric car and a heat pump to replace an old gas boiler.

Personal choices on eating less meat and dairy, and flying, would play a “smaller, but important role”, the committee said.

The committee also backed Drax’s plans to install Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) at its controversial biomass power station.

From 2031, Drax hopes to have this linked to two of the four generating units at the Selby site.

The report said: “BECCS from sustainable feedstocks provides both decarbonised electricity generation and a form of engineered CO2 removals.”

Currently Drax provides 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity, however this would reduce to less than 2 per cent by 2040.

However, the CCC report also said: “There is no role for large-scale unabated biomass generation at high load-factors in the pathway beyond the expiry of existing contracts in 2027.”

This comes after the Government recently agreed a bridging deal with Drax, granting financial support to keep the power station running from 2027 to 2031.

This cut its annual subsidies in half, from £950m to £470m, and the Selby plant will go from running about two-thirds of the time to only operating when renewable energy is low.

Biomass as a clean energy source, which involves the burning of wood pellets, has long been under dispute and successives governments have faced calls to end financial support for companies such as Drax.

Matt Williams, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: “The recent Government decision to hand Drax and Lynemouth a lifeline worth billions of pounds now looks badly misguided.

“The CCC also say biomass imports should be cut to almost zero, casting doubt on the future of large biomass power plants which rely on millions of tonnes of this imported wood.

“But this import phase-out is set to happen far too slowly - only by 2050. Meaning millions more trees burned, putting the world’s forests at risk for decades to come.”

A Drax spokesperson said: “The Climate Change Committee is clear that the engineered carbon removals from BECCS are essential to delivering the UK’s pathway to net zero.

“With the right policy support in place, our plans for BECCS at Drax Power Station could see us removing millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year while also helping keep the lights on.”