Bioenergy

Analysis & investigations

  • Bioenergy, Politics & law

Drax’s US environmental violations now total over 18,000 incidents

A new investigation by Land and Climate Review and The Sunday Times has uncovered an additional 6,000 breaches by the UK power company in Louisiana.
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  • Bioenergy, Politics & law

Drax biomass led to disabling health conditions, say unions and workers

The UK's largest power plant is facing worker lawsuits after the national health and safety regulator dropped criminal charges over biomass dust in 2023, a Land and Climate Investigation can reveal.
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  • Bioenergy, Politics & law

Drax-owned facilities broke environmental rules more than 11,000 times in the US

Drax “must be held accountable,” says US Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen, after The Times and Land and Climate Review reveal the bioenergy company violates US regulation an average of five times per day.
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  • Bioenergy, Forests

What are Drax’s plans on the West Coast?

A new investigation by Land and Climate Review and The Intercept has found that Drax broke regulations while constructing a new pellet mill in Washington State.
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  • Bioenergy, Politics & law

Drax fined again over pollution: “I’m afraid to go outside,” say residents

This month, the British power company has been issued another fine in Mississippi, with additional penalties expected in Louisiana. In collaboration with The Intercept, Land and Climate Review talk to experts and locals about Drax's operations in the US Southeast.
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  • Bioenergy, Forests

Drax’s pellet mills violated environmental law 189 times in Canada

The UK’s largest power station began importing wood from Canadian pellet plants 12 years ago. The mills, bought by Drax Group in 2021 & 2022, have breached environmental regulations 189 times.
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Opinion

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Podcasts

  • Bioenergy

How we uncovered pollution in the biomass industry

Bertie, Alasdair and Camille discuss Land and Climate Review's investigative reporting of environmental violations by North American wood pellet mills.
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  • Bioenergy, Forests

Is biomass power risking tropical deforestation?

Alasdair speaks to Timer Manurung, from NGO Auriga Nusantara, about the sudden growth of the biomass industry in Indonesia.
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  • Agriculture, Bioenergy

Why is Eni struggling to grow biofuels in Africa?

Agathe Bounfour returns to the Land and Climate Podcast to tell Alasdair about a new investigation by Transport and Environment.
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  • Bioenergy, Forests

Are Canada’s sustainable forestry claims accurate?

Bertie speaks to Stand.Earth's Richard Robertson about Canada's forestry sector.
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  • Bioenergy, Politics & law

Is biofuel fraud undermining EU climate policy?

Bertie speaks to investigative journalists Eli Moskowitz and Mira Sys about biofuel fraud in the EU.
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  • Bioenergy, Forests

What are the risks with wood burning in Japan?

Alasdair talks to Roger Smith, Japan Director for Mighty Earth, about Japanese biomass imports and the risks of the country's coal power stations switching to wood-burning.
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  • Bioenergy, Carbon capture

Are carbon removal targets unrealistic about land requirements?

Alasdair spoke to Dr. Kate Dooley, an author of the Land Gap Report which found that national policies for carbon removals "could push ecosystems, land rights and food security to the brink."
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  • Bioenergy, Transport

Are biofuels worse for the climate than petrol and jet fuel?

John DeCicco, Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan, has been studying transport emissions & biofuels for decades. Alasdair asked him about the alarming findings of his research: liquid biofuels could be worse for the climate than fossil fuels.
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  • Bioenergy, Transport

Is there any hope for a green aviation industry?

Alasdair spoke Finlay Asher, founder of Safe Landing, about the reasons technological and market-based solutions to aviation emissions are not going to get us to net-zero, and what the sector should be doing instead.
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  • Bioenergy, Forests, Markets, Politics & law

How Europe funds illegal Russian logging, and why timber sanctions matter – with Earthsight’s Sam Lawson

With the invasion of Ukraine ongoing, Bertie talks to Sam Lawson, Director of investigative NGO Earthsight, following a public letter from 120 NGOs calling for a boycott on Russian and Belarusian wood.
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  • Bioenergy

Can BECCS really provide negative emissions?

Sami Yassa, senior scientist at the US based NGO the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and their scientific lead on forests and forest biomass, sets out NRDC research on the use of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) which looks at whether it can really produce negative emissions.
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  • Bioenergy

Does bioenergy increase CO2 emissions even more than burning coal?

Alasdair talks to Professor John Sterman about his seminal research that proved burning wood for energy will "increase atmospheric CO2 for at least a century".
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  • Bioenergy

Chatham House’s Duncan Brack on the huge emissions from burning US wood overseas

Ed speaks to Duncan Brack, Associate Fellow at Chatham House and author of numerous reports into industrial-scale biomass and forestry policy.
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  • Bioenergy

Is Drax UK’s single biggest CO2 emitter? Think-tank Ember give us the answer

Alasdair talks to Phil MacDonald, Chief Operating Officer of think-tank Ember, about the the energy think-tank's latest analysis which places Drax as the UK's single biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the UK and among the top 5 emitters in Europe.
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Lina Burnelius on Sweden’s forestry model
  • Bioenergy, Forests

Lina Burnelius on Sweden’s forestry model

In this episode Alasdair MacEwen talks to Lina Burnelius of Protect the Forest Sweden about the Swedish forestry model and the threat that industry poses to biodiversity and the survival of ancient Forests.
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  • Bioenergy, Carbon capture

What is BECCS and what does it mean for climate policy?

Alasdair speaks to Dr Dan Quiggin, Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House, about the implications of using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.
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Ember’s Phil MacDonald on powering past coal
  • Bioenergy, Fossil fuels

Ember’s Phil MacDonald on powering past coal

Chief Operating Officer of energy think tank Ember, Phil MacDonald, talks to Alasdair about the new challenges of decarbonising the global energy sector and what has been achieved so far in Europe in the UK.
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Sasha Stashwick on Biden and climate change
  • Bioenergy, Politics & law

Sasha Stashwick on Biden and climate change

Edward and Alasdair speak to Sasha Stashwick, climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), on how the Biden Administration is gearing up to tackle climate change and issues with the use of biomass for tackling climate goals.
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Mike Norton on transformative change and science policy
  • Bioenergy

Mike Norton on “transformative change” and science policy

Prof Michael Norton speaks about the need to understand what 'transformative change' actually is, the gap between science and policy urgency on environmental boundaries and on the flawed concept of GDP.
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Doug Parr on climate change policymaking
  • Bioenergy, Politics & law

Doug Parr on climate change policymaking

Doug Parr speaks about how British climate policy has changed and what might happen after the pandemic and greenhouse gas removal technologies, what 'negative emissions' are and the risks of rising 'institutional greenwash' in climate policy and business.
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  • Politics & law
“A misuse of treaties”: Russian oligarchs are using investor-state disputes to sue Ukraine
Read Article
  • Bioenergy, Politics & law
Drax’s US environmental violations now total over 18,000 incidents
Read Article
  • Bioenergy, Politics & law
Drax biomass led to disabling health conditions, say unions and workers
Read Article
  • Agriculture, Politics & law
La loi Duplomb: a gift for the French agro-industrial complex? 
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  • Politics & law
A longstanding battle: Māori efforts to protect the Whanganui River
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  • Fossil fuels, Markets, Politics & law
How Exxon is using international law to sue the Dutch government
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  • Fossil fuels, Markets, Politics & law
“Shocking and sad”: how corporations use investment agreements to block decarbonisation in the Global South
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  • Bioenergy, Politics & law
Drax-owned facilities broke environmental rules more than 11,000 times in the US
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  • Fossil fuels, Politics & law
Are Russian climate politics changing?  
Listen here
  • Oceans, Politics & law
What does the US really see in Greenland?
Listen here
  • Carbon capture, Renewables
Are we closer to reaching clean energy than we might think?
Listen here
  • Adaptation, Culture, Politics & law
Can climate cause regime change?
Listen here
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