The United Kingdom's largest power station, Drax in North Yorkshire, fully transitioned from coal to wood pellets in 2023, generating about 6 percent of the country's electricity. While hailed as a step toward climate goals, the shift has drawn criticism for higher carbon emissions and pollution impacts in sourcing regions like Louisiana and Mississippi. The UK government provides daily subsidies equivalent to $2.7 million, though plans to halve them in 2027.
The Drax power station near Barlow in North Yorkshire once burned coal from local mines, blanketing nearby villages in dust. Resident Kathleen Watts, who has lived there for over 30 years, remembers cleaning black soot from windows and snow. The wind often carried pollution northeast toward Scandinavia, causing acid rain there.
The UK phased out coal entirely, closing its last deep-pit mine in 2015 and final coal plant in 2024. Drax, operated by Drax Group, completed its switch to wood pellets in 2023. Pellets are produced from trees felled in Louisiana and Mississippi, shipped across the Atlantic, then transported by train to the station.
This biomass fuel now powers 6 percent of UK electricity, supported by government subsidies of about $2.7 million daily. However, a 2024 Ember report found Drax emitted over 14 million tons of CO2 that year, more than the UK's six largest gas plants combined and four times the last coal plant's output, making it the single largest CO2 source. Drax disputes the findings, citing UN-recognized carbon accounting that treats biomass as low-carbon due to forest regrowth.
Scientists like William Moomaw from Tufts University argue wood burning emits more CO2 per kilowatt than coal, as wood's lower density requires higher volumes. Chatham House reports CO2 emissions from US-sourced pellets nearly doubled between 2014 and 2019, mostly at Drax. Supply chain emissions add 500 pounds of CO2 per ton of pellets, with production and transport each contributing significantly.
In the US, Drax's mills in Bastrop and Urania, Louisiana, and Gloster, Mississippi, have violated air quality rules, releasing formaldehyde and other toxins linked to health issues. Residents in these mostly Black communities report illnesses from dust and pollution. In October 2024, Gloster locals sued Drax for nearly a decade of unlawful pollutant releases.
Drax sources increasing wood from Canada's old-growth forests in British Columbia, leading to a $32 million penalty in 2024 for misreporting data. The company emphasizes sustainable practices, using sawdust and supporting forest thinning, and plans carbon capture to store 8.8 million tons of CO2 under the North Sea.
The biomass push relies on a UN accounting framework from the 1990s Kyoto Protocol, categorizing wood emissions under land use, assuming regrowth offsets them. Critics call it a loophole; MIT studies show forests take 44 to 104 years to repay the carbon debt. UK pellet imports hit a record 10.3 million tons in 2024.
Economically, coal once employed 1.2 million in the UK; Drax's bioenergy sector now has 7,400 jobs, down a third since 2014. In the US South, Drax mills employ far fewer than former paper mills. A planned August 2024 protest, Drax Climate Camp, was halted by police arrests.
In February 2025, the government announced subsidy cuts for 2027 and required 100 percent sustainable sourcing by 2031, citing excessive profits. Energy Minister Michael Shanks noted wood's ongoing grid role. Locals like former miner Steve Shaw-Wright question the green claims: "How you can grow wood at the other end of the Earth, chip it, ship it to here … and then burn it, and say, ‘Isn’t that nice and green?’"
Pub owner Peter Rust echoes doubts: "They get all this tax money but we don’t get cheaper power bills." Drax's chief sustainability officer Miguel Veiga-Pestana states sustainability is key to the business transformation.
