Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 20 February (HL4788), whether they will publish the referenced independent studies exploring the sustainability of biomass electricity generation.

The referenced independent studies refer to work exploring the sustainability of biomass, including electricity generation. Several reports commissioned on behalf of the public sector are already in the public domain, including:

• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) (2017) Use of high carbon North American woody biomass in UK electricity generation,
• BEIS (2021) Sustainability criteria and the effect of wood pellet demand on forest carbon stock: literature review and feasibility study,
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (2023) The ability of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to generate negative emissions.

Publicly funded research will continue to be published in line with the Research Concordat.