The report, by Stand.earth<\/a>, a Canadian environmental non-profit, claims that a subsidiary of Drax Group received hundreds of truckloads of whole logs at its biomass pellet sites throughout 2024 and into 2025, which were likely to have included trees that were hundreds of years old.<\/p>\n The report could raise fresh questions for the owner of the North Yorkshire power plant, which has been forced in recent years to defend its sustainability claims while receiving more than \u00a32m a day in green energy subsidies from UK bill payers.<\/p>\n The report\u2019s findings suggest that the power plant was burning \u201cirreplaceable\u201d trees even as its owners lobbied the UK government for the additional green energy subsidies, which were granted earlier this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n Logs at the Burns Lake plant. Drax has been forced to defend its sustainability claims. Photograph: Desiree Wallace\/Stand.earth<\/p>\n The company has claimed that it sources wood only from \u201cwell\u2010managed, sustainable forests\u201d to manufacture the pellets that are shipped from its sites in Canada and the US to be burned at its UK power plant.<\/p>\n But these claims have been questioned by Britain\u2019s energy regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority<\/a> after a BBC Panorama documentary in 2022 reported that Drax had cut down primary forests in Canada to turn into wood pellets.<\/p>\n The latest investigation into the company\u2019s green credentials, seen by the Guardian, uses official data from the government of British Columbia, along with satellite monitoring, to back claims that a Canadian subsidiary owned by Drax sourced 250-year-old trees to manufacture biomass pellets as recently as this year.<\/p>\n \u2018Old-growth\u2019 forests at risk<\/p>\n The report claims that the company received 90 truckloads of logs sourced from \u201cold-growth forests\u201d in the Skeena region of British Columbia, home to some of Canada\u2019s largest undeveloped wilderness areas.<\/p>\n Old-growth forests are defined by the local government as areas that include trees older than 250 years in slow-growth ecosystems, or older than 140 years in ecosystems in which trees are replaced more quickly.<\/p>\n Drax said in October 2023 it had stopped sourcing wood from areas designated by the government of British Columbia as \u201cprotected\u201d or \u201cdeferred\u201d old-growth forest stands, but it did not dispute that it was still sourcing wood from other sites containing old growth.<\/p>\n Responding to the Stand.earth report, a spokesperson for Drax said: \u201cOur sourcing policy means Drax does not source biomass from designated areas of old growth and only sources woody biomass from well-managed, sustainable forests<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n These designated areas of old growth amount to less than half of the total old-growth forest areas in British Columbia. Figures from the BC government show that designated areas total 5.3m hectares, while the total area of old-growth forest in the province spans 11.1m hectares. Another 3.7m hectares are protected under separate designation schemes.<\/p>\n Stand.earth claims that in 2024 and 2025 Drax received at least an additional 425 truck lorry-loads of whole logs from \u201ccutblocks\u201d \u2013 areas of forest land designated for timber harvesting \u2013 which contained old-growth forests.<\/p>\n The report claims that 63 of these loads came from three cutblocks that contained more than 90% old-growth forest, \u201cmeaning that this purchase almost certainly contained old growth\u201d.<\/p>\n It added that the remaining 362 lorry loads of whole logs came from 22 cutblocks in the Skeena region that were more than 80% old growth, meaning that it was \u201clikely\u201d they contained old growth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe true volume of old growth sourced by Drax is likely higher than what our research was able to track, because of spatial data limitations,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u2018A tree standing up in a forest is not waste\u2019<\/p>\n Tegan Hansen, the lead author of Stand.earth\u2019s report, told the Guardian that the loss of British Columbia\u2019s old-growth trees was \u201ca big problem that\u2019s getting bigger\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe region where Drax is operating is an area where we\u2019ve tracked a disproportionate amount of logging in high-risk forests with our satellite monitoring system Forest Eye. With how logging works here in BC, there isn\u2019t really a way for Drax to be operating in these areas and not include old-growth forests in their wood supply. The people of the UK should know that the risk of old-growth trees being cut down to produce wood pellets is higher than ever,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n As part of the investigation, Hansen visited a biomass pellet production site, owned by a Canadian subsidiary of Drax, where the company\u2019s reliance on whole logs was apparent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was quite stark. The yards are sprawling and there were huge piles of logs there. These were large, healthy trees of different ages. We saw some trees which had been scorched by fire, but they were still alive when they were cut, which was apparent by the oozing sap,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Stand.earth says that Drax received 425 truckloads of whole logs from \u2018cutblocks\u2019 that contained old-growth forests. Photograph: Desiree Wallace\/Stand.earth<\/p>\n Drax said the \u201clow-grade\u201d wood used to make biomass pellets had typically been rejected by commercial sawmills and either sold to the biomass industry as waste wood or burned to prevent wildfires. A spokesperson said it was \u201cfar better to use [waste wood] to generate renewable electricity rather than leaving it to burn\u201d.<\/p>\n The rules that allow companies in the forestry industry to disregard old growth as commercial waste are part of the problem, Hansen said.<\/p>\n \u201cEven exceptionally old trees can rot in the middle, which is one of their features that makes them so important for wildlife, but could mean the tree is called defective by the logging industry. This could mean that the tree is dismissed as waste wood. But a tree standing up in a forest is not waste,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cDrax has come into British Columbia claiming to solve some of the problems that our forestry industry has, but they have not. It\u2019s very disheartening, and offensive, to hear Drax claiming to be solving these problems when really they\u2019re entrenching some of the problems that we have in forestry here,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n Quick GuideContact Guardian Business about this storyShow The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject you can contact the Business team confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Scroll down and click on Secure Messaging. When asked who you wish to contact please select the Guardian Business team.<\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/p>\n If you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762681748_853_4000.jpg\")
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