UK "Green" Power Station Owner Cuts Down Primary Forests in Canada

Ometecuhtli writes:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63089348

A company that has received billions of pounds in green energy subsidies from UK taxpayers is cutting down environmentally-important forests, a BBC Panorama investigation has found.

Drax runs Britain's biggest power station, which burns millions of tonnes of imported wood pellets - which is classed as renewable energy.

The BBC has discovered some of the wood comes from primary forests in Canada.

[...] Ecologist Michelle Connolly told Panorama the company was destroying forests that had taken thousands of years to develop.

"It's really a shame that British taxpayers are funding this destruction with their money. Logging natural forests and converting them into pellets to be burned for electricity, that is absolutely insane," she said.

The Drax power station in Yorkshire is a converted coal plant, which now produces 12% of the UK's renewable electricity.

It has already received 6bn in green energy subsidies. Burning wood is considered green, but it is controversial among environmentalists.

[...] Drax's own responsible sourcing policy says it "will avoid damage or disturbance" to primary and old-growth forest.

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