Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compliance of the Drax Group with (1) biomass sustainability rules, and (2) relevant regulatory standards; and what plans, if any, they have to change regulatory standards to improve the sustainability of the power generated at Drax power station.

Ofgem published their conclusions on an investigation into Drax’s compliance with sustainability standards on 29 August 2024. The investigation found that whilst Drax complied with the standards, it failed to report data accurately. Government expects full compliance with all regulatory obligations and the size of Drax’s redress payment, at £25 million, underscores the robustness of the regulatory system.

The 2023 Biomass Strategy contained a commitment to consult on developing and implementing a cross-sector sustainability framework to enable greater consistency across sectors. Next steps on this will be announced in due course.