Biomass Electricity Subsidies: Deforestation

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts
Thursday 20th May 2021

(2 years, 11 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Sheehan Portrait Baroness Sheehan (LD)
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My Lords, given the need to rapidly decarbonise and the impact of pellet production on forests, will the Government review the decision to class biomass as carbon-neutral under the UK ETS and stop subsidising new biomass projects? I should say here that I own a biomass boiler.

Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Con)
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As I said, the biomass strategy will review all those factors. We want to continue subsidising biomass only if there are genuine carbon savings, if it does not contribute to deforestation and if it is produced in a sustainable way.