Focus on Drax amid concern over UK net zero targets - The Yorkshire Post says

They highlight that an “absence of strategic leadership from Ministers and the lack of a coherent, overarching plan to deliver national targets undermines our ability to reduce our dependence on imported expensive fossil fuels for electricity”.

Selby-based Drax this week stopped burning coal after almost 50 years, transforming itself, said CEO Will Gardiner, into the “UK’s biggest renewable power source”. Yet the BEIS report notes concerns about how sustainable its imported wood pellets really are and calls on the energy regulator to retrospectively audit the certificates presented by the station for the payment of Government subsidies, which it is estimated will come to £11bn of taxpayers’ money by 2027, amid “alleged misreporting by Drax to Ofgem in order to draw down public funds”.

This comes after National Grid and Shell pulled out of plans to develop new pipelines – which were meant to start from Drax – for carbon capture and storage in The Humber.

And long-held hopes for companies in Yorkshire to be at the forefront of a “green revolution” look unlikely as the committee today warns the UK’s attractiveness for investment in low-carbon technologies has “deteriorated”.

Meanwhile, the climate crisis continues and our need to meet net zero will not abate. Clear plans must be made with haste.