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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the contribution to the UK's net zero target of burning imported wood pellets in UK power stations.

The Net Zero Strategy outlined the UK’s ambition of 5MtCO2/year of engineered removals by 2030 and included illustrative ranges of 22-23MtCO2/year of engineered removals by 2035 and 75- 81MtCO2/year by 2050. Bioenergy with Carbon Capture & Storage (BECCS) projects have the potential to play a role in reaching these ambitions as the UK will likely require around 58Mt of negative CO2 emissions via engineered removals by 2050 to meet net zero. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommend deploying BECCS in the UK at a potential rate of 53 MtCO2/yr by 2050 which makes BECCS the main option for negative emissions.

Through the Biomass Strategy, the UK will establish the role of BECCS in reducing carbon emissions across the economy and set out how the technology could be deployed.