Two ways the UK’s manic ‘net zero’ policies are intentionally destroying the world’s forests
STUPID AND EVIL IS - AS STUPID AND EVIL DOES
First is the importation and burning of wood chips at Drax power station instead of using coal.
The second is the deforestation of balsa wood forests to provide essential components for wind turbines.
These are just two examples amongst countless others f he arrogace, ignorance, hypocrisy and wasteful spending of the ‘net zero’ lobby group’.
Let’s start with Drax.
From Brav AI;
‘Drax Power Station originally sourced its coal from a mix of domestic and international suppliers. Domestically, it drew from coal mines in Yorkshire, the Midlands, and Scotland, particularly relying on the nearby Selby coalfield. Internationally, coal was imported from countries including Poland, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and South Africa. By 2020, all coal used at Drax was sourced internationally, with Poland being a major supplier. The station ceased coal-fired operations entirely in April 2023, transitioning fully to biomass.
At its peak, Drax consumed up to 36,000 tonnes of coal per day.
‘Drax Power Station uses approximately 7 to 8 million tonnes of wood pellets annually to generate electricity.
In 2023, Drax burned around 6.5 million tonnes of wood pellets, producing about 5% of the UK’s electricity.
The company requires roughly 14 million tonnes of green wood (freshly cut wood) to produce this amount, as pellets are made by drying and compressing raw wood.
Drax is the UK’s largest consumer of wood pellets, accounting for more than half of the global trade in wood pellets.
The wood pellets are sourced primarily from the US (4.6 million tonnes), Canada (1.2 million tonnes), and the Baltic states (0.8 million tonnes), with the remainder from other European countries.
Despite claims of sustainability, investigations have revealed that a significant portion—over one-third—of the wood used comes from whole trees, including from primary forests in Canada, raising concerns about the environmental impact.
‘Drax Power Station’s burning of wood pellets produces significantly higher carbon emissions per unit of electricity than burning coal, despite being labeled as “renewable” and “carbon neutral” under current EU and UK carbon accounting rules.
Higher emissions: Research, including a 2018 experiment at the University of Nottingham, found that burning wood pellets generates about 8% more CO₂ than burning coal to produce the same amount of electricity. Other studies show bioenergy plants like Drax emit nearly 65% more CO₂ per MWh than modern coal plants.
Carbon accounting loophole: Drax does not report the CO₂ emissions from its smokestacks because international rules classify biomass as carbon neutral—assuming future tree growth will absorb the released carbon. In reality, this carbon absorption takes 44 to 104 years, making it ineffective for urgent climate goals.
Environmental impact: Drax burns 6 million tonnes of wood pellets annually, equivalent to 27 million trees, primarily sourced from North American hardwood forests and Canadian old-growth forests—some of which are wildlife-rich and carbon-storing ecosystems.
Government subsidies: Drax has received over £10 billion in UK taxpayer-funded subsidies since 2012, making its operation economically dependent on public support despite its high emissions and inefficiency.
Recent findings: A 2024 report by Ember found that Drax produced four times more emissions than a typical UK coal plant in 2023, and its total emissions exceed those of the next four most polluting UK power plants combined.
In short, while Drax claims to be a green energy leader, the burning of wood pellets at Drax is more carbon-intensive than coal, undermines climate targets, and relies on controversial carbon accounting and massive public subsidies.’
The technology around eliminating emissions from coal fired power stations has improved enormously.
‘Scrubbers, particularly flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, are highly effective at removing pollutants from coal-fired power plants:
Sulfur dioxide (SO₂): Modern scrubbers can remove over 95% of SO₂ emissions, with many achieving 98–99% efficiency. This is critical because SO₂ is a major precursor to acid rain and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
Particulate matter (PM): Wet scrubbers also reduce particulate emissions, with removal efficiencies ranging from 28.7% for PM1.0 to 50–60% for PM10. When combined with electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) or baghouses, overall PM control can exceed 99.8%.
Hydrochloric acid (HCl): Scrubbers can remove nearly all HCl from flue gas, especially important when burning high-chloride coals.
Mercury and other pollutants: Integrated systems combining scrubbers with activated carbon injection or selective catalytic reduction (SCR) can achieve up to 90–99% mercury removal.
These technologies have significantly reduced emissions: in the U.S., 93% of sulfur emissions from power plants are now prevented from reaching the atmosphere due to scrubbers. In China, 92.9% of coal plants use limestone or gypsum FGD systems, contributing to a sharp decline in SO₂ emissions despite high coal use.
Scrubbers are now a proven, scalable solution, with costs declining and performance improving over time due to regulatory pressure and technological innovation.
Thee is no analysis comparing ‘scrubbed’ emissions from coal-fired power sains ad wd pellet emissions.Neiher is there a cost comparison wih the costs and subsidies for comparable ‘renewable’ electricity generation. Brave AI has this;
‘Drax currently receives around £869 million per year in public subsidies, which equates to over £2 million a day.
This figure has varied over time, with subsidies totaling £893 million in 2021 and £869 million in 2024.
The total public subsidy received by Drax since 2012 is estimated at over £7 billion, with projections suggesting it could reach £11 billion by 2027 under its current agreement.
A new agreement announced in February 2025 extends government support until 2031, with subsidies expected to be halved to around £470 million per year, not increased.
The company is also lobbying for billions more in subsidies for its proposed Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) project, but these are separate from current annual payments.
Th UK government CHOSE to burn more polluting wood pellets from (CO2 removing) forests instead of coal that could have been ‘scrubbed’ clean – It also CHOSE to give huge subsidies for useless renewables AND provide subsidies for the pollution from the burning of wood pellets.
Now for balsa wood.
From here ( h/t www.zerohedge.com)
Although not limited to the UK, the UK is one of the major users of wind turbines globally.
Again, there is no report or analysis of any ‘environmental impact by anyone – this is completely ignored.
‘Over half a million balsa hardwood trees are being illegally logged in the Amazon rainforest every year to feed the massive demand for wind turbines in many parts of the world. Balsa is a lightweight but strong wood that is commonly used in the core of giant turbine blades. It can make up around 7% of the blade and each set of three can use up to 40 trees.
This discovery is a genuine shock and follows an exclusive investigation by the Daily Sceptic. It adds to the huge ecological toll that the ‘green’ wind turbines are taking on the natural environment.
These inefficient, unreliable, unsightly monsters require a large footprint on land and sea, kill millions of bats, decimate raptor populations, sweep the air of quadrillions of insects and alter local ecology on both land and sea. Nobody would install one in a free market, so they require vast financial subsidies to produce expensive electricity.
Most commercial balsa is exported by Ecuador and it has produced approximately 500,000 cubic metres annually in recent years, or about 80,000 metric tonnes. Around 55% of production is thought to end up in wind turbines and each group of three requires about 10.5m3 a set. Each set requires about 40 trees so annual balsa consumption for wind turbines equates to 1,047,619.
The EIA report that was published in 2024 was damning. Investigators toured many of the illegal logging sites and charged that most, if not all, exporters turned to natural forests as a “convenient and immediate replacement” when plantations were quickly depleted of older trees.
Ecuadorean production is said to have spiked around 2020 with a previous sustainable total of 33,000 tonnes rising to 75,000, driven by Chinese turbines manufactures. It is a little difficult to get exact production figures but sources such as the EIA and UN Comtrade suggest exports of 80-100,000 tonnes in 2021, 60-80,000 in 2022, and 50-80,000 in 2023 and 2024.’
The complete blindness to the damage being done to flora and fauna rveals the ignorance of he ‘net zero’ lobby.
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INTENTIONAL being the operative word! So who is behind the.... intentional!!!!!! As many of us know...its the ......J's......they are satan's bloodline and the longer this is not addressed, the more the destruction. They are not stupid, they're cunning.