The RSPB, Greenpeace UK, The Wildlife Trusts and Friends of the Earth have sent the following letter to Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in response to this week’s debate at Westminster Hall on the ‘sustainability of burning trees for energy generation in the UK’.

The practice of burning trees for electricity should be left in the past – it will not help us meet urgent carbon budgets and avoid irreversible climate tipping points. Together, we are calling for the UK Government to change course ahead of the publication of the UK’s Biomass Strategy.

Dear Secretary of State,

On Tuesday (6th December) in Westminster Hall, MPs debated the sustainability of burning trees for electricity generation in the UK. Our organisations are writing to reinforce our deep concern about the UK’s reliance on bioenergy and to propose that the Government changes course ahead of the publication of the UK’s Biomass Strategy.

These concerns are shared by MPs from across the House, as evidenced by this week’s debate. As Conservative MP Sally-Ann Hart rightly asked, “Should the UK Government really be subsidising [biomass electricity] when we are supposed to be setting an example to the rest of the world in our fight against climate change?”

Treecreeper, copyright Glyn Sellors, from the surfbirds galleries

Burning wood releases more CO2 than coal, with trees taking decades to regrow – time we do not have to meet urgent carbon budgets and avoid irreversible climate tipping points. Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse agreed: “We do not have the time for these emissions to be paid back. Time is not on our side when it comes to the climate disaster.”

To add insult to injury, the UK’s reliance on imported biomass is putting international forests at risk. Drax power station imports 8 million tonnes of wood a year, while a series of recent media investigations repeatedly found wood sourced from clearcuts of old and biodiverse forests supply the UK wood pellet industry. As Labour MP Barry Gardiner concluded, “We have to transition away from burning trees. It is a damaging way of using forests, and it cannot be sustained.”

Despite this, the UK Government has subsidised Drax power station with over £4 billion in renewable energy subsidy and carbon tax breaks to burn wood, with further subsidy to 2027 expected to be £5.8 billion. As Climate Minister Graham Stuart admitted in the debate, “I have a bit of an uphill struggle to persuade people in Westminster Hall of my case”. Our position is that this uphill struggle has reached its conclusion and there is clear support across Parliament that tree burning for electricity should be left in the past.

We are concerned that the upcoming Biomass Strategy is simply taking us further down this destructive path. The Government has the power to end this madness, and halt all subsidies for burning forest biomass. It’s crucial that we keep trees standing to ensure a safe climate, and invest in nature restoration and clean, safe renewable technologies to provide a secure energy supply for us all.

Yours sincerely,

Beccy Speight, Chief Executive, RSPB

Areeba Hamid, Co-Chief Executive, Greenpeace UK

Kathryn Brown, Director of Climate Change and Evidence, The Wildlife Trusts

Mike Childs, Head of Science, Policy and Research, Friends of the Earth