A new report by the National Audit Office says the UK government “cannot demonstrate” that biomass is meeting sustainability standards.
Biomass materials, such as plants or food waste, can be used in generating power or heat, or for fuelling vehicles.
In 2022, the fuel conversion schemes made up 11% of the UK’s electricity generation.
Head of NAO Gareth Davies warned: “If biomass is going to play a key role in the transition to net zero, the government needs to be confident that the industry is meeting high sustainability standards.
“However, government has been unable to demonstrate its current assurances are adequate to provide confidence in this regard.”
The auditors said the government needes to “review the assurance agreements” made for schemes, “ensuring that it has sufficient resources to give it assurance over the billions of pounds involved”.
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The report comes days after Drax’s carbon capture project – which also uses biomass – was granted the green light by energy security and net zero secretary Claire Coutinho.
The energy company argues that burning biomass is carbon neutral as regrowing sustainable forests absorbs similar amounts of carbon dioxide as burning the wood in a power plan.
In response to the report, a Drax spokesperson said: “The NAO acknowledges the important role that sustainably sourced biomass has to play in addressing the climate crisis and displacing fossil fuels in the production of dispatchable electricity.
“It’s essential that sustainability reporting and criteria are robust and fit for purpose,” the Drax spokesperson added.
“This was also recognised in the government’s biomass strategy published last year, which outlined a review which has already begun,” the Drax spokesperson added.
A spokesperson for the department for energy security and net zero said: “We welcome the NAO’s report, which found no evidence of firms not complying with our stringent sustainability criteria, which are in line with internationally recognised standards.
“As set out in the Biomass Strategy, we will be consulting later this year on how we can go further.”
They said generators “only legally [receive] subsidies if they prove they have complied with our strict rules”.
