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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the methodology it uses to measure the impact of UK biomass imports on the forests from which those imports are sourced; and what plans his Department has to review that methodology.

The criteria used to ensure that only sustainably sourced biomass is used within our power sector is effective in protecting biodiversity and carbon stock in forests where biomass is sourced and requires biomass fuels to be derived from forest waste wood and residues. In their ‘Biomass in a low-carbon economy’ report the Committee on Climate Change stated the evidence suggests that the UK’s bioenergy sustainability rules are helping to limit sustainability risks.

Those sites using biomass with a capacity greater than or equal to 1 megawatt must also prepare an annual sustainability report compiled by a third party auditor/verifier which provides assurance that biomass is from sustainable sources.