Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason only 70 per cent of the wood pellets burnt in UK power stations need to be sustainably sourced in order to qualify for renewable subsidies; and what discussions he had with stakeholders in developing that policy.

The land criteria for woody biomass, which includes the definitions of legal and sustainable sourcing, were transposed into the requirements of support schemes from the Timber Standard for Heat and Electricity (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/timber-standard-for-heat-electricity) at the time of the schemes’ developments. Stakeholders have been consulted repeatedly during the development and enhancement of the UK’s biomass sustainability criteria, and the outcomes of the consultations can be found on gov.uk. This includes the last consultation on adjustments to sustainability and reporting provisions for biomass under https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/biomass-sustainability

The Government is currently reviewing its existing biomass sustainability criteria across the transport, heat and energy sectors and intends to set out recommendations for further enhancements to these in the Biomass Strategy, set to be published in late 2022.