This Valentine’s Day, people called on the UK government to dump planet-wrecker Drax

This Valentine’s day, climate crisis activists from around the country descended on doorsteps of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in London. They were there to call on Labour Party energy secretary Ed Miliband to end the government’s toxic love affair with infamous planet-wrecker Drax.

Drax: time for the DESNZ to dump the destructive climate-wrecker

Climate activists from across the UK gathered on 14 Feb 2025 outside the DESNZ office in London:

🌲🔥Drax is the UK’s single largest carbon emitter, harming forests, biodiversity and communities around the world. We need to fund real climate action, not Drax’s dirty scam. @Ed_Miliband 🌍⏳#StopBurningTrees #DumpDrax pic.twitter.com/oFAoDeOyOo

— XR Edinburgh and Lothians (@xr_Edinburgh) February 14, 2025

They came together to express their anger about the government’s cosy relationship with the UK’s biggest carbon polluter. In particular, the groups took the DESNZ to task for greenlighting the continuation of enormous subsidies for Drax’s destructive biomass power station. Already, the company has leached £7bn of public money since 2012 through these subsidies.

Dressed in pink and red for Valentine’s day, protestors gathered under the slogan: “Ed Miliband: Dump Drax”:

Protesters brandished placards telling the DESNZ why forest-destroyer Drax shouldn’t be its Valentine:

Anti-biomass and climate groups Biofuelwatch, Campaign Against Climate Change, and Axe Drax delivered powerful speeches about the impacts of Drax’s mega-polluting biomass power station.

Activists also penned a poignant break-up poem and called out the government for getting into bed with the greenwashing energy giant online:

💔 DUMP DRAX THIS VALENTINE’S DAY 💔
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Drax is burning forests,
And we’re DONE with you. 🌳🔥 pic.twitter.com/QOimvx8WqY

— Digital Rebellion 🕊️ (@xrdigitalrebel) February 14, 2025

The UK government and greenwashing Drax: a match made in hell

On Monday 10 February, the government announced its decision to extend subsidies for Drax past 2027, to 2031. The continued bungs to the carbon mega-polluter will cost taxpayers at least £1.8bn in new subsidies. Therefore, protestors condemned this decision, highlighting the impact on taxpayers, forests, and frontline communities abroad. On top of this, they drew attention to the staggering scale of emissions from its wood-burning pellet operations.

Bioenergy giant Drax operates the world’s largest wood pellet-burning biomass power station near Selby, Yorkshire. The UK’s single largest carbon dioxide emitter, in 2023, it belched out 11.5m tonnes of the greenhouse gas driving the climate crisis.

Drax sources from around the world, primarily the US, Canada, and the Baltic States. In many of these places, the company is responsible for razing high-risk forests, including old growth, ancient trees.

What’s more, the company has situated its wood pellet production sites predominantly in environmental justice communities. These include majority Black communities in places like Mississippi and Louisiana. There, Drax’s facilities emit large amounts of pollutants that cause respiratory and pulmonary health impacts.

The UK government also greenlit these subsidies the day after another damning report on Drax’s environmental impacts. Specifically, the BBC revealed that Drax had once again failed to disclose that it had sourced from primary and old-growth forests in 2020-2021. After an investigation by Ofgem, the energy regulator fined the company £25m.

No love lost on ditching the driver of climate disaster

The demonstration was part of a wider emergency mobilisation coordinated by the Stop Burning Trees Coalition. Groups held demonstrations simultaneously in Leeds, Tyneside, and Nottingham. These built on the momentum of demonstrations earlier in the week in Bristol and Somerset on Monday after the decision was announced.

Lead campaigner for the Stop Burning Trees Coalition Merry Dickinson said:

The recent Government decision to extend subsidies for Drax, the UK’s single largest carbon emitter, spells disaster for bill payers, forests, communities suffering Drax’s pollution, biodiversity and our planet. This decision will drive us closer to climate chaos and result in vital forests being destroyed whilst putting an added burden on bill payers. Using our money to fund forest destruction, pollution and the profits of Drax’s shareholders is a disgrace. We need investment in real green energy, in climate action that genuinely reduces emissions and brings down people’s bills.

Echoing this, bioenergy campaigner for Biofuelwatch Sally Clark said:

The Government’s decision to grant billions more in renewable subsidies from our energy bills to the world’s biggest tree burner, Drax, is a catastrophe for forests, wildlife, communities and the climate. If the Government is serious about tackling the climate emergency and the cost of living crisis, it should be investing in genuine climate solutions like home insulation or wind and solar power, not sending our futures up in smoke by funding big polluters like Drax.

Featured image and additional images supplied