Biofuelwatch: highlights of 2015

Biofuelwatch was very busy in 2015. Here are a few of the things we’ve done:

  • Taken a giant white elephant to the Department of Energy and Climate Change to deliver a 110,000 signature petition against Drax’s White Rose carbon capture project – Drax subsequently pulled out of the project, which has now been abandoned by the government;
  • Supported two UK tours by US NGOs working on forest destruction in the southern US to produce wood pellets for European power stations;
  • Launched a number of e-alerts to MPs and to the Department of Energy and Climate Change calling for an end to subsidies for forest-destroying biomass electricity;
  • Co-organised a number of civil society events at the current Climate Talks in Paris;
  • Produced two substantial reports, one  biomass gasification and pyrolysis; and one one bioenergy with carbon capture and storage;
  • Worked with a number of other European NGOs to produce a briefing calling for bioenergy to be excluded from the next EU Renewable Energy Directive;
  • Held two well-attended public meetings in London, one of which included a screening of ‘Threatened Forests’, a new film about the impact of European energy policies on US forests;
  • Organised #axedrax protests at the Drax AGM and the Green Investment Bank annual review;
  • Worked with local residents in areas threatened by biomass plants, including in Thurrock, where an application for a waste wood gasifier was turned down by the local council after a big campaign by residents.