Drax used timber from precious Canadian trees while taking billions in environmental subsidies, BBC finds.

A power company that has received £6bn in UK green subsidies has kept burning wood from some of the world’s most precious forests, the BBC has found.

Papers obtained by Panorama show Drax took timber from rare forests in Canada it had claimed were “no go areas”.

It comes as the government decides whether to give the firm’s Yorkshire site billions more in environmental subsidies funded by energy bill payers.

  • TWeaKEnglish
    40·
    4 months ago

    Drax helps the UK government meet its climate targets because, on paper at least, the power station is treated as emission-free. This is because international carbon accounting rules state that greenhouse gas emissions from burning wood are counted in the country where the trees are felled as opposed to where they are burned.

    Such bullshit. All the emissions happen here, but they don’t get counted here.

    • ThePyroPython@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      4 months ago

      Rishi, you can’t creative accounting your way out a climate catastrophe. The CO2 bill still gets paid and the working class will eat you if there’s no food left.

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
        7·
        4 months ago

        Oh, he’ll be gone before it gets too bad. So no need to worry about Rishi.

        My money’s on California. House near the Beckhams and Prince Harry.

    • thehatfox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      4 months ago

      There is plenty of this nonsense going on, like the increasingly farcical carbon credit system. Fiddling with the numbers is easier and cheaper than making real change, so that’s what is being done.