Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 17
22nd Report - Government’s support for biomass
Published 25 Apr 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Government support for biomass All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Importing biomass involves long supply chains, which make it difficult to be sure that it is produced from genuinely sustainable sources.50 We are also concerned that recent international developments may undermine the system of carbon accounting that underpins the current supply of 39 C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 40 C&AG’S Report, para 1.4 41 C&AG’S Report, para 3.3 42 Climate Change Committee, The Seventh Carbon Budget, February 2025, Section 7.7 43 Bio0012 44 Climate Change Committee, The Seventh Carbon Budget, February 2025, page 272 45 Q 49 46 Q 57 47 Q 57 48 C&AG’s Report, para 3.4 49 Bio0003, Bio0005, Bio0008 50 C&AG’s Report, para 9 13 sustainable biomass.51 Under current carbon accounting rules, emissions from the burning of biomass are accounted for by the country from which the fuel was sourced, an approach we were very critical of in our report on the government’s carbon capture usage and storage programme. The bulk of wood pellets burnt in biomass power generation in the UK come from the US, which has removed itself from the Paris Agreement.52 In written evidence received after our evidence session Drax set out that the US remains party to the United Nations Framework Convention Climate Change which requires that countries submit national greenhouse Gas Inventories in line with international standards.53 51 Q 65 52 Qq 62, 63 53 Letter from Drax, 17 March 2025 14 2 Future interventions Transitional support for Drax, 2027–2031
From: Public Accounts Committee, 22nd Report - Government’s support for biomass (HC 715), 25 April 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-second Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-second report from Session 2024-25
Published 10 July 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on biomass, with target implementation dates between autumn 2025 and spring 2027, but disagrees on adding BECCS transition clauses to the Drax contract and says the KPMG reports are not a matter for it.
- On assessing its sustainability assurance approach, the government agrees, with a target date of autumn 2025, and says it is reflecting on evaluation and audit processes for the new Drax contract. It states the Ofgem investigation is evidence "the current assurance regime is working well".
- On a new oversight regime, the government agrees (target December 2025) and is "considering options to publish" its sustainability enforcement plans under the new Drax contract. It says any additional Ofgem oversight responsibilities "must be considered in the round".
- The government disagrees with adding clauses to the transitional support agreement to prompt Drax to transition to BECCS. It says such requirements would expose the government to "an unacceptable level of legal risk" until a full assessment of power BECCS is finalised.
- On the KPMG reports, the government says "This is not a matter for the government to consider", as the reports remain Drax's property and it is for Drax to decide whether to release them.