Senior Labour MP confronted over his government’s failures around fossil fuels

Protesters from campaign group Climate Resistance interrupted the chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, Labour’s Bill Esterson MP, at the New Statesman Politics Live conference on Wednesday 20 November. It was over biomass company Drax and its publicly-subsidised planet-wrecking operations.

Labour MP called out over Drax biomass

Protestors rose from the audience during the “Forging a green future: How can the UK lead the world in the net zero transition?” session. They were demanding an end to the biomass subsidy scheme, currently funding the UK’s largest carbon emitter, Drax:

“Is the government planning to continue handing out billions in subsidies to Drax for poisoning the air we breathe?” one of the protestors questioned. They were dragged out by security:

Another called out Drax’s “environmental racism” – to which one of the New Statesman panelists can be seen smirking:

Of course, the issue of biomass and it’s planet-wrecking, colonialist tendencies is not a laughing matter

A litany of willful failures

The tree-burning Drax power station is the single largest carbon emitter in the UK.

As the Canary previously reported, it belched out 11.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 alone. This is according to a new analysis from climate think tank Ember published 9 August. It means Drax’s Selby power station put out the equivalent of nearly 3% of the UK’s territorial emissions.

In fact, this barely scratched the surface. Ember found that Drax’s biomass power station emitted four times MORE carbon dioxide than the UK’s remaining coal plant. Yes, coal plant – often considered the dirtiest fossil fuel – and Drax is producing masses more.

This is partly because, wood pellets actually pack more carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt hour of electricity.

If that wasn’t bad enough though, it also generated more carbon dioxide than the next four power stations combined. Moreover, Ember noted that:

Although it is the recipient of public funding earmarked for low-carbon projects, Drax remains the largest single source of CO2 in the country.

All this, by the way, is funded by the now-Labour Party government.

Opposed by over 40 environmental organisations, the public subsidy scheme has paid the owners of Drax more than £7bn since 2012, and also supports the Lynemouth biomass plant in Northumberland owned by the billionaire investor Daniel Křetínský. If extended, Drax subsidies will cost the UK on average over £1.3 million every day.

The UK has been accused of funding environmental racism through the subsidy scheme, as high-polluting Drax pellet mills are disproportionately located within economically deprived, ethnic minority communities in the US south. Recent survey revealed 86% of local households had members suffering from a pollution-related condition, such as lung disease or cancer.

Labour: cut the ties to Drax

Drax has regularly sponsored events at the annual Labour conference and last year made a donation of £12,000 to the Labour Party.

Sam Simons, spokesperson for Stop Polluting Politics said:

With every tree it burns, Drax is throwing our livelihoods into the flames. Drax keeps poisoning the air we breathe, and then expects the public to pay them for it. Its pernicious lobbying and donations to Labour show a desperate attempt to keep the harmful, unsustainable business model going at the expense of everyone else.

The Drax subsidies must not be renewed. The floods in Spain have shown us how destructive the climate crisis can be. We demand that Labour scrap the tree-burning subsidy scheme, and stop companies like Drax from polluting our air and burning up our futures.

Featured image and videos via Stop Polluting Politics