Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the tonnage of carbon dioxide emitted by (a) the production processes, including drying, of biomass destined for UK power generation, (b) the transportation of biomass from all origins to power generation plants in the UK and (c) the transportation and disposal of fly ash arising from biomass combustion in the UK in the last year for which figures are available.

The UK Government is bringing in sustainability criteria for those supplying biomass under the RO and RHI. These were initially introduced as reporting requirements from April 2014, with the intention of bringing in mandatory criteria from April 2015. No data has yebeen published.

In order to calculate the greenhouse gas saving of a fuel, suppliers are required to sum each of the emission components but are not required to report the component savings. It is the responsibility of generators to determine where in their supply chain the saving is made.

Power suppliers using bioliquids have had to comply with the Renewable Energy Directive’s sustainability criteria since 2011, which includes a 35% minimum greenhouse gas emissions saving. Ofgem reports on these emissions, the most recent figures are found in the Renewable Obligation annual report:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/86392/roannualreport2012-13final.pdf.