Tag: sustainability

Leading the way with transparency and action

11 March 2025

Opinion

  • Voluntary reporting for Drax’s EU Taxonomy alignment shows why we must keep leading on sustainable finance
  • Our upgraded CDP scores further underline our credentials for best practice in both strategy and action

Sustainability shapes how we operate at Drax. It provides our stakeholders with the trust they need as we demonstrate how we strive to provide secure, renewable energy to millions of homes and businesses, in a responsible way.

That is why we are pleased to hit another significant milestone in our ongoing sustainability journey, with the release of our first ever EU Taxonomy Report.

The report reflects our deep commitment to sustainability and highlights our continued work towards aligning ourselves with the European Union’s sustainability goals. In terms of results, the report shows that 71% of Drax’s revenue qualifies as eligible and aligned with the Taxonomy, with 99% of that aligned revenue meeting sustainability principles.

But what is it? EU Taxonomy is a classification system that was created by the European Commission, to define which economic activities contribute to environmental sustainability. It serves as a core part of the EU’s sustainable finance framework, guiding investment flows towards activities that align with the EU’s Green Deal and its broader climate goals.

It’s essentially a roadmap for companies and investors to understand what qualifies as environmentally sustainable. For businesses like Drax, aligning with the EU Taxonomy is essential, as it reinforces our ambition to help tackle climate change while maintaining strong financial performance.

So, why is the EU Taxonomy so important in the context of Drax’s sustainability journey? It’s because the system establishes clear guidelines and benchmarks aimed at ensuring that investment is directed towards activities that contribute meaningfully to environmental sustainability.

It plays a crucial role in accelerating the transition to a green economy and helps companies like Drax with their ambitions to meet their global sustainability targets. By aiming to align what we do with the EU Taxonomy, we aim to ensure that our operations, revenue generation, and financial models support these crucial climate objectives.

The results of our first EU Taxonomy Report demonstrate how far we’ve come in our sustainability efforts. The headline figure that 99% of our eligible revenue meets the sustainability criteria is a source of pride. This is a strong affirmation of our long-term dedication to environmental stewardship and is a significant achievement.

Compared to the broader business landscape, our results are an extraordinary achievement. A 2024 report from EY, that used a sample of 307 European companies non-financial disclosures, showed that the average EU Taxonomy alignment for turnover was 10% across all sectors, with the energy and power sector rising to 37%. For Drax, this rises even further to 71%, positioning us as a leader in taxonomy-aligned sustainability principles.

The reason for this alignment is simple: Drax has made intentional and strategic decisions over the years to transition our business towards renewable energy, with the most notable being the transition from coal to biomass at Drax Power Station.

However, achieving alignment with the EU Taxonomy goes beyond just ticking the necessary boxes. We’re focused on aiming to exceed the minimum standards set out by the taxonomy. The fact that 71% of our revenue is fully aligned with the EU Taxonomy speaks to the forward-thinking strategies that we have put in place.

One of the key pillars of sustainability at Drax is our focus on forestry, specifically how we manage and source biomass. Forests are a crucial component of the global carbon cycle. As part of our commitment to achieve net zero by the end of 2040 across our value chain, we endeavour to source our biomass from sustainably managed forests and must be mindful of the impact our activities have on biodiversity, carbon sequestration, communities, and forest health.

This is where the importance of our CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) scores come in and these act like a snapshot of a company’s performance on environmental action. Their annual reports provide valuable insights into a company’s efforts to reduce emissions and manage natural resources responsibly, using voluntarily disclosed data to provide a score based upon three main critical areas: greenhouse gas emissions, water management, and deforestation.

We have worked hard on these areas, to demonstrate our dedication and progress towards climate action to our investors and other stakeholders. We have maintained our A- CDP climate score and alongside this our CDP Forests score was upgraded to A-. For the first time this positions Drax in the highest ‘leadership’ banding of CDP scores, recognising best practice for both strategy and action, and ranking Drax in the leading group of FTSE businesses.

The upgraded CDP score for forestry reflects our ongoing efforts to aim to ensure that our biomass sourcing practices do not contribute to deforestation or degradation of ecosystems. By sourcing from responsibly managed forests, we aim to ensure that our biomass is part of a sustainable, circular process where forest health is maintained and enhanced.

We recognise that both environmental sustainability as measured by the EU Taxonomy and our evolving CDP scores will require consistent work to maintain and improve. Alongside this we have developed a new sustainability framework, in consultation with a variety of different groups including representatives from the scientific community, academics, employees, investors and environmental NGOs.

But this holistic approach must be seen as the starting point of a journey. With the climate crisis becoming an even bigger threat to our planet, we must redouble our efforts. That means open and frank conversations with internal and external stakeholders where possible and concerted efforts to decarbonise our supply chain. It also means continuing to prioritise the rigorous standards of best practice measured by mechanisms such as EU taxonomy and CDP ratings. These pillars will be the key to proving that Drax can keep the lights on for millions of people using sustainable biomass generation, responsibly.

Drax is taking positive action to deliver secure clean power and climate goals

23 January 2025

Opinion
Foresters in working forest, Mississippi

This article first appeared in BusinessGreen.

By Miguel Veiga-Pestana, Chief Sustainability Officer, Drax Group 

Miguel Veiga-Pestana, Chief Sustainability Officer, Drax Group

Drax divides opinion. Some recognise the critically important role we play in generating renewable power which keeps the lights on for millions. Others argue that we are not ‘green enough’ and need to do more to demonstrate that we are part of the solution to tackling the existential threat of climate change.      

We know that no organisation is immune from criticism and challenge and nor should they be, and this is particularly true for the energy industry. Our work sits at the intersection of some of our most critical economic, social and environmental issues like enabling growth, better productivity and job creation and reducing global warming. 

Since the Ukrainian conflict and the ongoing uncertainty around investments needed to achieve net zero, energy has overtaken many other sectors in the controversy stakes. From nuclear to renewable power, our screens are filled every day with reasons to question the role that these different technologies can play in all our lives.  

The UK Government’s Clean Power Action Plan sets out a positive roadmap to deliver more renewable electricity while addressing the daily pressures that people in this country feel. To meet these goals industry, government and civil society must work together and listen to one another. Without this collaboration the prospects of tackling climate change while delivering energy security are bleak. 

2024 was the 50th anniversary of Drax Power Station helping power the UK. We converted our site, formerly Western Europe’s largest coal fired power station, to generate renewable energy with biomass, making it the largest single source of clean power in the country. We are rightly proud of the contribution the power station continues to make, securely powering homes no matter the weather.    

However, in recent years, the polarisation of the debate around the use of bioenergy has become so loud that it frequently drowns out constructive discussion. 

Drax is a fast-growing business, in a rapidly evolving sector that relies on the natural world to operate. And we have a strong desire to contribute to decarbonising our society, to protecting and enhancing nature, as well as to providing renewable energy and carbon removals to those industries which can’t otherwise reach net zero. 

We recognise that some people have concerns about our operations. We understand that we need to do more to demonstrate that the biomass we use is genuinely sustainable and that we are taking the necessary steps to operate our business responsibly. We are listening to these concerns and we are determined to learn from them by taking positive action to provide greater transparency about our plans, processes and operations.  

That’s why this year will see us make changes to further integrate sustainability across our operations. We are developing this new approach in consultation with experts to ensure that we’re on the right path to being climate, nature and people positive.  

The launch of this new approach will not be the end of the journey either. It will be the start. We are committed to continuing this external engagement so we can continually improve our company. 

The centrepiece of this will be a new sustainability framework underpinning our operations.  

This includes making new investments in satellite technology, to deliver even more accurate measurements of the carbon stored in our sourcing areas, along with automating our data gathering to improve sourcing governance and traceability, so that our raw materials can be traced digitally.  

We are also exploring implementing nature positive action plans for our sites and our supply chain to help nature thrive. And for our neighbouring communities, we are looking to fund STEM education and green skills training for 500,000 people. Additionally, we will target a continued reduction in supply chain emissions for Drax Power Station.  

This new approach will be rightly challenging for us to deliver.  We hope it will show that we are listening whilst also disentangling fact from fiction. We stand ready to play our part in delivering the secure clean energy the UK needs.    

Newsweek Pillars of the Green Transition interview with Drax CEO, Will Gardiner

18 November 2024

Opinion

This interview appeared first in Newsweek Investment Reports.

Given the recent energy challenges in Europe, especially since the war in Ukraine, how do you view Drax’s transition from fossil fuels to biomass? Do you believe this model is scalable and reliable enough to meet Europe’s long-term energy demands amidst geopolitical instability?

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated how critical biomass can be as an alternative energy source and its role in the energy transition. While solar and wind are often seen as the core renewable energy technologies, they aren’t always reliable, especially when there’s no wind or sun. Biomass serves as an essential solution that offers the same stability and reliability as coal but without the associated CO2 emissions. It provides critical ancillary services to the grid, like inertia and reactive power, similar to large-scale thermal plants, making it a valuable asset in ensuring energy supply.

However, it’s important to recognize that biomass should not be the primary energy source. Its usage must be sustainable, meaning there have to be clear rules on sourcing feedstock. At Drax, our transition from coal to biomass has been guided by strict sustainability requirements, ensuring that the biomass we use is renewable and responsibly sourced.

Can you briefly explain what biomass is and how it fits into Drax’s operations?

Biomass involves using sustainable wood pellets instead of fossil fuels to generate power. Drax, originally the largest coal-fired power station in Western Europe, underwent a significant transformation over the past two decades to switch from coal to biomass. Today, instead of burning coal, we use around 7 to 8 million tons of wood pellets annually, primarily sourced from the southeastern U.S. and western Canada.

The transition involved building a new supply chain tailored to biomass, which includes customized storage, logistics, and transport processes. Once the biomass reaches our power station, it’s used in the boilers to generate electricity in a way that’s similar to coal-fired generation, but with a much lower carbon footprint.

Drax has set a goal to be carbon negative by 2030. How do you plan to achieve this, and what role will carbon capture and storage play in the process?

Biomass is already a low-carbon power generation method, but by incorporating carbon capture and storage (CCS), we can take it a step further. Our plan is to install carbon capture units at our UK power station starting in 2027, with the goal of being fully operational by 2030. This technology will capture the CO2 emissions that come out of the power station and store them under the North Sea, effectively making our operations carbon negative.

Once fully operational, this process will remove 4 million tons of CO2 annually from the atmosphere. To put this into perspective, capturing 8 million tons of CO2 is equivalent to installing heat pumps in every home in Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city.

How do you ensure that the biomass you source is sustainable and doesn’t contribute to deforestation?

The sustainability of biomass hinges on it being a renewable resource. This means that the CO2 absorbed by trees as they grow is released when we burn the pellets but is reabsorbed by new trees, maintaining a balanced cycle within the biosphere. Unlike fossil fuels, which release CO2 that’s been locked in rocks for millions of years, biomass doesn’t add new carbon to the atmosphere.

To ensure sustainability, all our biomass is sourced from forests that are actively regenerating, with no contribution to deforestation. In fact, the forests we source from are required to have increasing or stable carbon stocks. In the southeastern U.S., where most of our pellets come from, carbon stocks have been steadily growing since the 1950s. Additionally, strict limits are in place for CO2 emissions throughout the supply chain, from pellet production to transport, ensuring that biomass remains a low-carbon process.

Our sourcing practices are also rigorously documented and regulated, ensuring compliance with UK government standards. Importantly, the majority of our feedstock comes from byproducts such as sawdust and shavings from sawmills, contributing to a more well-managed forest ecosystem.

How do you integrate biomass with other renewable energy sources to create a reliable energy mix?

The UK’s energy system relies on a mix of different fuels, including wind, solar, gas, biomass, and hydro. Each source plays a different role in ensuring energy stability. For instance, on a sunny day with light wind, around a quarter of the UK’s power might come from solar, 13% from wind, 25% from gas, and 8% from biomass.

Biomass is unique because it’s a renewable, dispatchable energy source, meaning it can be turned up or down based on demand. This flexibility is crucial for maintaining a balanced energy system, especially when wind and solar aren’t generating power.

Drax’s strategy focuses on providing dispatchable renewable power to support the grid when other sources aren’t available, ensuring a reliable and stable energy supply.

As biomass continues to expand, particularly in North America, how do you plan to scale up operations, and what challenges do you anticipate for the industry?

The history of biomass power generation, especially over the last 25 years, has largely been about replacing coal, which is one of the most carbon-intensive fuel sources. As wind and solar become more affordable and widespread, the role of biomass will evolve. The next generation of biomass power stations will likely integrate carbon capture and storage, enabling biomass to act as a source of carbon removal.

For Drax, our plan is to build biomass power stations in the U.S. with integrated carbon capture and storage technology, which offers two key benefits: 24/7 green power and significant carbon removal. This combination is crucial for achieving net zero and meeting the growing demand for sustainable power, especially as technologies like AI drive increased energy consumption.

Why do you think biomass, despite being a significant part of the energy mix, isn’t as well-known as wind or solar energy?

Biomass tends to be more geographically specific. It’s an important part of the energy transition in countries like the UK, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands, where sustainable forestry is prevalent. In regions with fewer forests, like Southern Europe, it’s less common. Moreover, in places with consistent sunshine, like the Middle East, solar energy paired with batteries is often more viable. The visibility and relevance of biomass vary based on regional resources and energy needs.

How significant will carbon capture be in reducing emissions, and when do you think it will become a scalable solution?

Carbon capture is poised to play a crucial role in reducing emissions. The technology is proven and has been used by oil and gas companies for many years. The shift toward making carbon capture a viable business solution has gained momentum, particularly after COP26, with major players in the energy sector investing in this technology.

There are also growing incentives in countries like the U.S., Sweden, and Denmark, making carbon capture economically viable. By 2030, we expect to see the first significant projects, including ours in the UK and the U.S., with broader adoption occurring by the mid-2030s.

How do you educate the public about carbon capture and ensure they understand its importance in achieving net zero?

The need to achieve net zero is now widely accepted by the public and business leaders alike, especially as climate events like hurricanes, floods, and droughts continue to highlight the urgency of the situation. However, it’s crucial to convey that simply reducing emissions won’t be enough—we must also remove CO2 from the atmosphere to reach net zero.

We spend considerable time working with governments to ensure they understand this narrative, as government support is vital for driving the adoption of carbon capture technology. Once governments are on board, it becomes easier to communicate this message to the public, making carbon capture a more integral part of the green energy transition.

The key to sustainable forests? Thinking globally and managing locally

1 December 2022

Opinion

Key takeaways:

  • Working forests, where wood products are harvested, are explicitly managed to balance environmental and economic benefits, while encouraging healthy, growing forests that store carbon, provide habitats for wildlife, and space for recreation.
  • But there is no single management technique. The most effective methods vary depending on local conditions.
  • By employing locally appropriate methods, working forests have grown while supporting essential forestry industries and local economies.
  • Forests in the U.S. South, British Columbia, and Estonia all demonstrate how local management can deliver both environmental and economic wins.

Forests are biological, environmental, and economic powerhouses. Collectively they are home to most of the planet’s terrestrial biodiversity. They are responsible for absorbing 7.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per year, or roughly 1.5 times the amount of CO2 produced by the United States on an annual basis. And working forests, which are actively managed to generate revenue from wood products industries, are important drivers for the global economy, employing over 13 million people worldwide and generating $600 billion annually.

But as important as forests are globally, the key to maximizing working forests’ potential lies in smart, active forest management. While 420 million hectares of forest have been lost since 1990 through conversion to other land uses such as for agriculture, many working forests are actually growing both larger and healthier due to science-based management practices.

The best practices in working forests balance economic, social, and environmental benefits. But just as importantly, they are tailored to local conditions and framed by appropriate regional regulations, guidance, and best-practice.

The following describes how three different regions, from which Drax sources its biomass, manage their forests for a sustainable future.

British Columbia: Managing locally for global climate change

British Columbia is blanketed by almost 60 million hectares of forest – an area larger than France and Germany combined. Over 90% of the forest land is owned by Canada’s government, meaning the province’s forests are managed for the benefit of the Canadian people and in collaboration with First Nations.

From the province’s expanse of forested land, less than half a percent (0.36%) is harvested each year, according to government figures. This ensures stable, sustainable forests. However, there’s a need to manage against natural factors.

Click to view/download

In 2017, 2018, and 2020 catastrophic fires ripped through some of British Columbia’s most iconic forest areas, underscoring the threat climate change poses to the area’s natural resources. One response was to increase the removal of stands of trees in the forest, harvesting the large number of dead or dying trees created by pests that have grown more common in a warming climate.

By removing dead trees, diseased trees, and even some healthy trees, forest managers can reduce the amount of potential fuel in the forest, making devastating wildfires less likely. There are also commercial advantages to this strategy. Most of the trees removed are low quality and not suitable for processing into lumber. These trees can, however, still be used commercially to produce biomass wood pellets that offer a renewable alternative to fossil fuels. This means local communities don’t just get safer forests, they get safer forests that support the local economy.

The United States: Thinning for healthier forests

The U.S. South’s forests have expanded rapidly in recent decades, largely due to growth in working forests on private land. Annual forest growth in the region more than doubled from 193 million cubic metres of wood in 1953 to 408 million cubic meters by 2015.

This expansion has occurred thanks to active forest product markets which incentivise forest management investment. In the southern U.S. thinning is critical to managing healthy and productive pine forests.

Thinning is an intermediate harvest aimed at reducing tree density to allocate more resources, like nutrients, sunlight, and water, to trees which will eventually become valuable sawtimber. Thinning not only increases future sawtimber yields, but also improves the forest’s resilience to pest, disease, and wildfire, as well as enhancing understory diversity and wildlife habitat.

Click to view/download

While trees removed during thinning are generally undersized or unsuitable for lumber, they’re ideal for producing biomass wood pellets. In this way, the biomass market creates an incentive for managers to engage in practices that increase the health and vigour of forests on their land.

The results speak for themselves: across U.S. forestland the volume of annual net timber growth 36% higher than the volume of annual timber removals.

A managed working forest in the US South

Estonia: Seeding the future

Though Estonia is not a large country, approximately half of it is covered in trees, meaning forestry is integral to the country’s way of life. Historically, harvesting trees has been an important part of the national economy, and the government has established strict laws to ensure sustainable management practices.

These regulations have helped Estonia increase its overall forest cover from about 34% 80 years ago to over 50% today. And, as in the U.S. South, the volume of wood harvested from Estonia’s forests each year is less than the volume added by tree growth.

Sunrise and fog over forest landscape in Estonia

Sunrise and fog over forest landscape in Estonia

Estonia has managed to increase its growing forest stock by letting the average age of its forests increase. This is partially due to Estonia having young, fast-growing forests in areas where tree growth is relatively new. But it is also due to regulations that require harvesters to leave seed trees.

Seed trees are healthy, mature trees, the seeds from which become the forest’s next generation. By enforcing laws that ensure seed trees are not harvested, Estonia is encouraging natural regeneration of forests. As in the U.S. South protecting these seed trees from competition for water and nutrients means removing smaller trees in the area. While these smaller trees may not all be suitable for lumber, they are a suitable feedstock for biomass. It means managing for natural regeneration can still have economic, as well as environmental, advantages.

Different methods, similar results

Laws, landownership, and forestry practices differ greatly between the U.S. South, British Columbia, and Estonia, but all three are excellent examples of how local forest management contributes to healthy rural economies and sustained forest coverage.

While there are many different strategies for creating a balance between economic and environmental interests, all successful strategies have something in common: They encourage healthy, growing forests.

Supporting a circular economy in the forests

16 June 2022

Opinion

Every year in British Columbia, millions of tonnes of waste wood – known in the industry as slash – is burned by the side of the road.

Land managers are required by law to dispose of this waste wood – that includes leftover tree limbs and tops, and wood that is rotten, diseased and already fire damaged – to reduce the risks of wildfires and the spread of disease and pests.

The smoke from these fires is choking surrounding communities – sometimes “smoking out entire valleys,” air quality meteorologist from BC’s Environment Ministry Trina Orchard recently told iNFOnews.ca.

It also impacts the broader environment, releasing some 3 million tonnes of CO2 a year into the atmosphere, according to some early estimates.

Slash pile in British Columbia

Landfilling this waste material from logging operations isn’t an option as it would emit methane – a greenhouse gas that is about 25 times more potent than CO2. So you can see why it ends up being burned.

In its Modernizing Forest Policy in BC, the government has already identified its intention to phase out the burning of this waste wood left over after harvesting operations and is working with suppliers and other companies to encourage the use of this fibre.

This is a very positive move as this material must come out of the forests to reduce the fuel load that can help wildfires grow and spread to the point where they can’t be controlled, let alone be extinguished.

The wildfire risk is real and growing. Each year more forests and land are destroyed by wildfire, impacting communities, nature, wildlife and the environment.

In the past two decades, wildfires burned two and a half times more land in BC than in the previous 50-year period. According to very early estimates, emissions from last year’s wildfires in the province released around 150 million tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to around 30 million cars on the road for a year.

Alan Knight at the log yard for Lavington Pellet Mill in British Columbia

During my recent trip to British Columbia in Canada, First Nations, foresters, academics, scientists and government officials all talked about the burning piles of waste wood left over after logging operations.

Rather than burning it, it would be far better, they say, to use more of this potential resource as a feedstock for pellets that can be used to generate renewable energy, while supporting local jobs across the forestry sector and helping bolster the resilience of Canada’s forests against wildfire.

I like this approach because it brings pragmatism and common sense to the debate over Canada’s forests from the very people who know the most about the landscape around them.

Burning it at the roadside is a waste of a resource that could be put to much better use in generating renewable electricity, displacing fossil fuels, and it highlights the positive role the bioenergy industry can play in enhancing the forests and supporting communities.

Drax is already using some of this waste wood – which I saw in the log yard for our Lavington Pellet mill in British Columbia. This waste wood comprises around 20% of our feedstock. The remaining 80% comes from sawmill residues like sawdust, chips and shavings.

Waste wood for pellets at Lavington Pellet Mill log yard

It’s clear to me that using this waste material that has little other use or market value to make our pellets is an invaluable opportunity to deliver real benefits for communities, jobs and the environment while supporting a sustainable circular economy in the forestry sector.

An introduction to carbon accounting

12 May 2022

Sustainable business

Key takeaways:

  • Tracking, reporting, and calculating carbon emissions are a key part of progressing countries, industries, and companies towards net zero goals.
  • As a newly established discipline, carbon accounting still lacks standardisation and frameworks in how emissions are tracked, reduced, and mitigated.
  • The main carbon accounting standard used by businesses is the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, which lays out three ‘Scopes’ businesses should report and act upon.
  • Carbon accounting evolves from reporting in the use of goals and timeframes in which targets are met.
  • Timeframes are crucial in the deployment of technologies like carbon capture, removals, and achieving net zero.

How can countries and companies find a route to net zero emissions? Many organisations, countries and industries have pledged to balance their emissions before mid-century. They intend to do this through a combination of cutting emissions and removing carbon from the atmosphere.

Tracking and quantifying emissions, understanding output, reducing them, and setting tangible targets that can be worked towards are all central to tackling climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions – especially when it comes to carbon dioxide (CO2). Emissions and energy consumption reporting is already common practice and compulsory for businesses over a certain size in the UK. However, carbon accounting takes this a step further.

“Carbon reporting is a statement of physical greenhouse gas emissions that occur over a given period,” explains Michael Goldsworthy, Head of Climate Change and Carbon Strategy at Drax. “Carbon accounting relates to how those emissions are then processed and counted towards specific targets. The methodologies for calculating emissions and determining contributions against targets may then have differing rules depending on which framework or standard is being reported against.”

Carbon accounting tools can help companies and counties understand their carbon footprint – how much carbon is being emitted as part of their operations, who is responsible for them, and how they can be effectively mitigated.

Like how financial accounting may seek to balance a company’s books and calculate potential profit, carbon accounting seeks to do the same with emissions, tracking what an entity emits, and what it reduces, removes, or mitigates. Carbon accounting is, therefore, crucial in understanding how countries and companies can contribute to reaching net zero.

A new space

How different organisations, countries and industries approach carbon accounting is still an evolving process.

“It’s as complex as financial accounting, but with financial accounting, there’s a long standing industry that relies on well-established practices and principles. Carbon accounting by contrast is such a new space,” explains Goldsworthy.

Regardless of its infancy, businesses and countries are already implementing standardised approaches to carbon accounting. Regulations such as emissions trading schemes and reporting systems, such as Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) and the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), are beginning to deliver some degree of consistency in businesses’ carbon reporting.

Other standards such as the GHG Protocol have sought to provide a standardised basis for corporate reporting and accounting. Elsewhere, voluntary carbon markets (e.g. carbon offsets) have also evolved to allow transferral of carbon reductions or removals between businesses, providing flexibility to companies in delivering their climate commitments.

The challenge is in aligning these frameworks so that they work together. For example, emissions within a corporate inventory or offset programme must be accounted for in a way that is consistent with a national inventory.

To date, these accounting systems have evolved independently with different rules and methodologies. Beginning to implement detailed carbon accounting, upon which emissions reductions and removals can be based, requires standardised understanding of what they are and where they come from.

Reporting and tackling Scope One, Two, and Three emissions

The main carbon accounting standard used by businesses is the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. This voluntary carbon reporting standard can be used by countries and cities, as well as individual companies globally.

The GHG protocol categorises emissions in three different ‘scopes’, called Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3. Understanding, measuring, and reporting these is a key factor in carbon accounting and can drive meaningful emissions reduction and mitigation.

Scope One – Direct emissions

Scope One emissions are those that come as a direct result of a company or country’s activities. These can include fuel combustion at a factory’s facilities, for example, or emissions from a fleet of vehicles.

Scope One emissions are the most straightforward for an organisation to measure and report, and easier for organisations to directly act on.

Scope Two – Indirect energy emissions

Scope Two emissions are those which come from the generation of energy an organisation uses. These can include emissions form electricity, steam, heating, and cooling.

A business may buy electricity, for example, from an electricity supplier, which acquires power from a generator. If that generator is a fossil-fuelled power station the energy consumer’s Scope Two emissions will be greater than if it buys power from a renewable electricity supplier or generates its own renewable power.

The ability to change energy suppliers makes Scope Two relatively straightforward for organisations to act on, assuming renewable energy sources are available in the area.

Scope Three – All other indirect emissions

Scope Three is much broader. It covers upstream and downstream lifecycle emissions of products used or produced by a company, as well as other indirect emissions such as employee commuting and business travel emissions.

Identifying and reducing these emissions across supply and value chains can be difficult for businesses with complex supply lines and global distribution networks. They are also hard for companies to directly influence.

Add in factors like emissions mitigations or offsetting, and the carbon accounting can quickly become much more complex than simply reporting and reducing emissions that occur directly from a company’s activities. Nevertheless, these full-system overviews and whole-product lifecycle accounting are crucial to understanding the true impact of operations and organisations, and to reach climate goals.

Working to timelines

Setting goals with defined timelines and the development of rules that ensure consistent accounting is also crucial to implementing effective climate change mitigation frameworks throughout the global economy. Consider the UK’s aim to be net zero by 2050, or Drax’s ambition to be net negative by 2030, as goals with set timelines.

For many technologies, the time scales over which targets are set have added relevance. There are often upfront emissions to account for and operational emissions that may change over time. Take for example an electric vehicle: the climate benefit will be determined by emissions from construction and the carbon intensity of the electricity used to power it.

A timeline of BECCS at Drax [click to view/download]

Looking at a brief snapshot at the beginning of its life, say the first couple of years, might not show any climate benefit compared to a vehicle using an internal combustion engine. Over the lifetime of the vehicle, however, meaningful emissions savings may become clear – especially if the electricity powering the vehicle continues to decarbonise over time.

This provides a challenge when setting carbon emissions targets. Targets set too far in the future potentially risk inaction in the short term, while targets set over short periods risk disincentivising technologies that have substantial long-term mitigation potential. 

Delivering net zero

Some greenhouse gas emissions will be impossible to fully abate, such as methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture, while other sectors, like aviation, will be incredibly difficult to fully decarbonise. This makes carbon removal technologies all the more critical to ensuring net zero is achieved.

Technologies such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) – which combines low-carbon, biomass-fuelled renewable power generation with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to permanently remove emissions from the atmosphere – are already under development.

However, it is imperative that such technologies are accounted for using robust approaches to carbon accounting, ensuring all emission and removals flows across the value chain are accurately calculated in accordance with best scientific practice. In the case of BECCS, it’s vital that not only are emissions from processing and transporting biomass considered, but also its potential impact on the land sector.

Forests from which biomass is sourced will be managed for a variety of reasons, such as mitigating natural disturbance, delivering commercial returns, and preserving ecosystems. Accurate accounting of these impacts is therefore key to ensuring such technologies deliver meaningful reductions in atmospheric CO2within timeframes guided by science.

Accounting for net zero

While carbon accounting is crucial to reaching a true level of net zero in the UK and globally, where residual emissions are balanced against removals, the practice should not be used exclusively to deliver numerical carbon goals.

“To deliver net zero, it’s vital we have robust carbon accounting systems and targets in place, ensuring we reduce fossil emissions as far as possible while also incentivising carbon removal solutions,” says Goldsworthy.

“However, many removal solutions rely on the natural world and so it is critical that ecosystems are not only valued on a carbon basis but consider other environmental factors such as biodiversity as well.”

Cruachan Power Station: Protecting biodiversity while generating power

1 April 2022

Sustainable business

Key points:

  • The Scottish Highlands are home to a wide variety of landscapes, with a wealth of biodiversity that must be preserved.
  • Cruachan pumped storage hydro station sits within Ben Cruachan and has operated for nearly 60-years without damaging wildlife.
  • Regular surveys and reporting allow Drax to understand the health of different fauna and species over time.
  • It’s promising that even species of bird and insects that are declining in other parts of the UK are regularly spotted around Cruachan.
  • The expansion of the power station has required and will continue to need careful assessment of the area’s biodiversity to minimise any impact the project could cause.

The Scottish Highlands are home to some of the UK’s most stunning natural wonders. From dramatic plunging lochs to the craggy, ice capped Munros, the varied landscape holds some of the most biodiverse areas in the UK. The region’s fauna ranges from red deer to golden eagles, while its flora includes the ancient oak and moss-covered forests that make up the ‘temperate rainforest’ of the Atlantic coast.

Preserving these landscapes and the life that thrives in them is crucial to both the environment and economy of the region. It’s the job of Roddy Davies, Health, Safety, and Environmental Advisor at Drax’s Cruachan Power Station to ensure operations at the site do not damage the natural environment.

“This is a very biodiverse, rich environment. There are a lot of different species, a large variety of natural habitats and plant life,” says Davies. “It’s good that we can say we’ve operated here for nearly 60 years, and all of that is still there. It’s testament that we don’t have a demonstrable negative effect on the wildlife that lives around us.”

Source: Blue Leaf Nature

Energy storage inside a mountain

The pumped storage hydro station sits a kilometre inside Ben Cruachan, a Munro peak in the Western Highland region of Argyll and Bute. It’s not an area you would normally associate with power generation, but it’s perfect for pumped storage hydro. The site has two bodies of water at differing elevations, Loch Awe at the bottom and a reservoir at the top allowing Cruachan to generate power when it’s needed, as well as absorb electricity when there is an excess on the grid by pumping water back up the mountain. Storing it until power is needed and helping to keep the grid balanced.

The subterranean nature of the power station means the massive machinery, including the four reversible turbines, and the heat and noise they generate, is hidden underground.

Features on the surface are limited to a few buildings by the entrance tunnel at the banks of Loch Awe, and the dam which contains the upper reservoir on the slopes of Ben Cruachan, as well as several pylons and cables transporting electricity. Even the 316-metre buttress dam takes the landscape into account.

“When Cruachan was built in the ’50s and ’60s, the visual impact of it was very much in the minds of the people who built it and the authorities who approved it. The dam is almost impossible to see from a public place,” explains Davies. “Our presence on the surface is very limited. All the busy goings-on are underground. There’s lots of noise underground, but it doesn’t travel outside.”

Ensuring that the area surrounding Drax’s operation continues to function without damaging the surrounding environment is an ongoing process. Davies deploys annual biodiversity surveys and reporting that gives Drax over a decade of information and analysis to help identify trends.

The wildlife of Ben Cruachan

The Cruachan Power Station Biodiversity Survey for 2021 is the 11th completed by Blue Leaf Nature, a biodiversity service provider. The comprehensive report highlights the incredible diversity of fauna surrounding Cruachan, some of which are declining in other parts of the country.

While the majestic red stags found in other parts of the Highlands are extremely uncommon around Cruachan, 2021 was a particularly exciting year for other types of large mammals. Pine martens – a cat-sized relative of the weasel – are relatively common, appearing alongside red squirrels, red foxes, and otters. Badgers were also added to the site’s list of species for the first time.

Source: Blue Leaf Nature

Mammals, however, are exceeded by the range of birds found around Cruachan, with 53 different species spotted in 2021. Of these, 17 species appear on the Birds of Conservation Concern Five’s red list, the highest threat status to the UK’s bird population, including the Ring Ouzel, Yellowhammer and Tree Pipet. A further 27 appear on the Regional International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Additionally, six of the spotted species are considered endangered (including Herring Gull and Northern Wheatear) and 11 vulnerable by the IUCN.

Sightings of these threatened species around Cruachan come despite particularly unfavourable weather in 2021. One of the driest Aprils on record followed by an exceptionally wet May disrupted the bird breeding season. This in turn resulted in a difficult nesting season, exacerbated by food shortages due to the weather’s effect on insect life.

In the report’s survey of invertebrates, 150 different species were recorded in 2021, down from 170 in 2018. However, it’s promising that among Cruachan’s creepy-crawlies are many that are in decline elsewhere in the UK, with the numbers of some important insect types are increasing. Dragonfly and damselfly species, for example, increased from five in the previous survey to nine in 2021.

Moths and butterflies are particularly important to monitor, as Davies explains: “they’re a very strong indicator species for the health and quality of an ecosystem. They’re also very sensitive to climatic changes and  react quickly to temperature change.”

Source: Blue Leaf Nature

In 2021, 78 moth species were recorded around Cruachan, including one of Butterfly Conservation’s noted priority species (Yellow-ringed carpet), as well as six species that feature on IUCN’s red or amber lists. There were 11 butterfly species recorded in 2021, including four priority species, as well as two newly spotted species: the Small Copper and the Chequered Skipper.

That species in decline around the country are increasingly thriving at Cruachan is further testament to the power station’s lack of disruption to the environment. And as the UK’s electricity system continues to evolve, and Cruachan power station with it, closely observing the surrounding environment and its inhabitants will become even more important.

Expanding Cruachan while preserving nature

While Cruachan first started generating and storing power in the 1960s, its capabilities are becoming ever more critical as the national grid decarbonises and power generation becomes increasingly decentralised. This is why Drax is undertaking an ambitious project to expand Cruachan.

Cruachan 2 would add a further 600 MW of generation capacity to the plant for a total of 1.04 GW of power. By providing stability services to the grid, the expansion could enable an additional 300-gigawatt hours of renewable power to come online.

Source: Blue Leaf Nature

The project is epic in scale. New underground tunnels and subterranean caverns will house the reversible pump-turbines and will be carved out of the mountain, vastly increasing the size of the power station. But as with any activity in such a landscape, careful planning is essential. Detailed surveys and assessments of the area are a key requirement for planning approval.

“We need to acknowledge what’s here and show that we understand what surveys have found,” says Davies. “Then we have to present our proposals for how we will protect them and mitigate any potential disturbance.”

An advantage of pumped storage hydro is that much of the intensive excavating and construction work will take place underground, with little disturbance on the surface. Cruachan 2 has the added benefit of utilising Cruachan’s existing infrastructure. For example, it would not require flooding a valley to create a new upper reservoir.

Ultimately, Cruachan’s half century-plus of operation has not damaged or degraded the biodiversity of the Western Highlands landscape. And Davies is keen to ensure that legacy is preserved: “As a company, it’s not just something we have to do; we have a moral responsibility to be a responsible operator and look after what’s around us.”

View the Cruachan Power Station Biodiversity Survey 2022 here and find out more about Green Tourism at Cruachan here. 

What is the carbon cycle?

25 March 2022

Carbon capture

What is the carbon cycle?

All living things contain carbon and the carbon cycle is the process through which the element continuously moves from one place in nature to another. Most carbon is stored in rock and sediment, but it’s also found in soil, oceans, and the atmosphere, and is produced by all living organisms – including plants, animals, and humans.

Carbon atoms move between the atmosphere and various storage locations, also known as reservoirs, on Earth. They do this through mechanisms such as photosynthesis, the decomposition and respiration of living organisms, and the eruption of volcanoes.

As our planet is a closed system, the overall amount of carbon doesn’t change. However, the level of carbon stored in a particular reservoir, including the atmosphere, can and does change, as does the speed at which carbon moves from one reservoir to another.

What is the role of photosynthesis in the carbon cycle?

Carbon exists in many different forms, including the colourless and odourless gas that is carbon dioxide (CO2). During photosynthesis, plants absorb light energy from the sun, water through their roots, and CO2 from the air – converting them into oxygen and glucose.

The oxygen is then released back into the air, while the carbon is stored in glucose, and used for energy by the plant to feed its stem, branches, leaves, and roots. Plants also release CO2 into the atmosphere through respiration.

Animals – including humans – who consume plants similarly digest the glucose for energy purposes. The cells in the human body then break down the glucose, with CO2 emitted as a waste product as we exhale.

CO2 is also produced when plants and animals die and are broken down by organisms such as fungi and bacteria during decomposition.

What is the fast carbon cycle?

The natural process of plants and animals releasing CO2 into the atmosphere through respiration and decomposition and plants absorbing it via photosynthesis is known as the biogenic carbon cycle. Biogenic refers to something that is produced by or originates from a living organism. This cycle also incorporates CO2 absorbed and released by the world’s oceans.

The biogenic carbon cycle is also called the “fast” carbon cycle, as the carbon that circulates through it does so comparatively quickly. There are nevertheless substantial variations within this faster cycle. Reservoir turnover times – a measure of how long the carbon remains in one location – range from years for the atmosphere to decades through to millennia for major carbon sinks on land and in the ocean.

What is the slow carbon cycle?

In some circumstances, plant and animal remains can become fossilised. This process, which takes millions of years, eventually leads to the formation of fossil fuels. Coal comes from the remains of plants that have been transformed into sedimentary rock. And we get crude oil and natural gas from plankton that once fell to the ocean floor and was, over time, buried by sediment.

The rocks and sedimentary layers where coal, crude oil, and natural gas are found form part of what is known as the geological or slow carbon cycle. From this cycle, carbon is returned to the atmosphere through, for example, volcanic eruptions and the weathering of rocks. In the slow carbon cycle, reservoir turnover times exceed 10,000 years and can stretch to millions of years.

How do humans impact the carbon cycle?

Left to its own devices, Earth can keep CO2 levels balanced, with similar amounts of CO2 released into and absorbed from the air. Carbon stored in rocks and sediment would slowly be emitted over a long period of time. However, human activity has upset this natural equilibrium.

Burning fossil fuel releases carbon that’s been sequestered in geological formations for millions of years, transferring it from the slow to the fast (biogenic) carbon cycle. This influx of fossil carbon leads to excessive levels of atmospheric CO2, that the biogenic carbon cycle can’t cope with.

As a greenhouse gas that traps heat from the sun between the Earth and its atmosphere, CO2 is essential to human existence. Without CO2 and other greenhouse gases, the planet could become too cold to sustain life.

However, the drastic increase in atmospheric CO2 due to human activity means that too much heat is now retained between Earth and the atmosphere. This has led to a continued rise in the average global temperature, a development that is part of climate change.

Where does biomass fit into the carbon cycle?

One way to help reduce fossil carbon is to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, including sustainably sourced biomass. Feedstock for biomass energy includes plant material, wood, and forest residue – organic matter that absorbs CO2 as part of the biogenic carbon cycle. When the biomass is combusted in energy or electricity generation, the biogenic carbon stored in the organic matter is released back into the atmosphere as CO2.

This is distinctly different from the fossil carbon released by oil, gas, and coal. The addition of carbon capture and storage to bioenergy – creating BECCS – means the biogenic carbon absorbed by the organic matter is captured and sequestered, permanently removing it from the atmosphere. By capturing CO2 and transporting it to geological formations – such as porous rocks – for permanent storage, BECCS moves CO2 from the fast to the slow carbon cycle.

This is the opposite of burning fossil fuels, which takes carbon out of geological formations (the slow carbon cycle) and emits it into the atmosphere (the fast carbon cycle). Because BECCS removes more carbon than it emits, it delivers negative emissions.

Fast facts

  • According to a 2019 study, human activity including the burning of fossil fuels releases between 40 and 100 times more carbon every year than all volcanic eruptions around the world.
  • In March 2021, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii reported that average CO2 in the atmosphere for that month was 14 parts per million. This was 50% higher than at the time of the Industrial Revolution (1750-1800).
  • There is an estimated 85 billion gigatonne (Gt) of carbon stored below the surface of the Earth. In comparison, just 43,500 Gt is stored on land, in oceans, and in the atmosphere.
  • Forests around the world are vital carbon sinks, absorbing around 7.6 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

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