Soaring profits for Drax calls government subsidies into question

Drax receives the majority of the government’s billions in subsidies towards bioenergy, receiving a total of £893m in 2021. Without these subsidies, the company is likely to have suffered significant losses.

Now, research commissioned by the Cut Carbon Not Forests coalition, looking into the UK government’s approach to biomass, has found that the majority (62 per cent) of British people oppose the UK government giving bioenergy industry players such as Drax £1bn every year.

Additionally, 59 per cent of survey respondents, on learning that Drax is the UK’s single-biggest source of CO₂, said they do not think the government should be subsidising the burning of wood if it wants to tackle climate change.

The survey of 2,005 general respondents in the UK, conducted by Censuswide at the end of January this year, found that only 3 per cent of the public believe the government should use billpayers' money to support burning wood from other countries’ forests...