Still from ‘Threatened forests’ by Benoit Grimont
‘Threatened Forests’ (Morgane Productions, 2015, directed by Benoît Grimont)
Join us for the UK premiere of this powerful new film (‘Threatened Forests’ trailer). The film shows the impacts of UK and EU biomass energy policies on native forests in North America, using Drax power station in the UK as a case study.
We will also have speakers from US conservation organisations campaigning against the destruction of highly biodiverse and carbon rich wetland forests in the USA for pellet production.
Tickets are free, but please book via eventbrite
Speakers
Drax power station: the biggest biomass power station in the world
In an effort to meet its obligations under the EU Renewable Energy Directive, the UK is pumping huge subsidies into biomass power stations. Most such power plants will burn wood pellets, which are falsely classified by EU regulations as being carbon neutral, even though the UK government’s own analysis shows that burning biomass can be worse for greenhouse gas emissions than burning fossil fuels.
One biomass plant alone, Drax, which is converting half its burners to biomass, will burn 1.5 times as much wood as the UK produces in total every year. To find enough high quality wood to burn, UK power plants have turned to the southern USA, where highly biodiverse hardwood forests are being cleared and the wood made into pellets to be shipped to Europe. The UK is the biggest importer of wood pellets in Europe, making it a key contributor to forest destruction in the USA.