Drax claimed record £999m in subsidies for burning trees in 2025, thinktank says

Company has received about 8.7bn in renewable energy subsidies since 2012, despite claims wood pellets are not sourced sustainably

The owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire received record subsidies of almost 1bn for burning trees to generate electricity in 2025, a climate thinktank has calculated.

The company was paid 999m last year for generating about 4.5% of Great Britain's electricity from its biomass plant, costing each household 13 a year, according to analysts at Ember.