The Drax power station, a woodchip-burning facility in North Yorkshire, reported a record high of 14.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions last year, marking its eleventh consecutive year as the UK's largest single emitter.
Despite these record emissions, the company received a record public subsidy of £999 million in 2025, which equates to approximately £13 per UK household. An analysis by the energy think-tank Ember highlighted these figures, stating that Drax emitted four times more CO2e than Pembroke gas power station, the second-largest emitter.
Ember analyst Josie Murdoch criticized the continued reliance on biomass for power generation, stating, "Burning biomass for power generation will never stop being bad value for billpayers or our environment and must be phased out entirely."
Drax's emissions from biomass are not included in official UK emissions statistics due to United Nations rules, a classification that allows the company to remain eligible for public subsidies. Since 2012, Drax has received £8.72 billion in subsidies, funded through consumer bills. The classification as renewable energy stems from the use of wood pellets sourced from forests where new trees are planted after harvesting.
According to the Ember report, over 99 percent of the fuel burned at Drax last year was imported. The company disputes claims that it uses wood from virgin forests.
A spokesperson for Drax defended the company's practices, stating that Ember's analysis disregards "globally recognised carbon accounting practices" and contradicts the findings of climate scientists at the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change regarding sustainable biomass.