Drax Group (LSE:DRX) is again under environmental scrutiny as a BBC Panorama report today claimed the power plant operator’s biomass furnaces continued to burn wood from "some of the world’s most precious forests".
The BBC said its Panorama team obtained papers showing that timber was taken from rare forests in Canada despite them being designated as “no go areas”.
At the same time, the report pointed out that Drax has received some £6 billion UK ‘green subsidies’, and, the government is presently reviewing whether to provide further subsidies.
Drax is meanwhile quoted, in the report, as saying its wood pellets are sustainable and legally harvested.
The story first emerged in 2022, when Panorama said that Drax had bought logging licences to remove two areas of environmentally-friendly forest in British Columbia, with trucks followed from Drax mills and found to be picking up whole logs from the precious forest area.
In London, Drax shares were down only 1.5p or 0.36% on Wednesday, a day ahead of results from the company that are expected to focus on its green energy plans.