Businesses, charities and other groups sign letter calling for levies to be paid by the government

Data centres’ huge demand for energy can’t be allowed to prop up dirty polluting tree-burning power stations like Drax. We can’t sacrifice a safe climate for AI pipedreams. The business behind Drax, the UK’s single largest source of carbon emissions, which burns biomass i.e. trees to produce electricity, is proposing to build a new AI data centre next door to its power station in Yorkshire, providing Drax with justification to continue its dirty polluting ways and its harm to forests, wildlife, communities and the climate. Drax hopes to benefit from political support aimed at data centres whilst undermining previous government commitments to scale back Drax’s use. We can’t let the expansion of data centres prop-up dirty energy and undermine climate targets. Please add your name to our petition and stand against big tech’s dangerous deals with dirty energy.

Across North America and Europe, a movement is taking on the biomass industry and saving some of the world’s last intact forests.

The UK’s single largest carbon emitter, Drax, has applied with the University of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority for public support to use its tree burning to power an AI data centre as pa...

The UK’s single largest carbon emitter, Drax, has applied with the University of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority for public support to use its tree burning to power an AI data centre as pa...

The UK’s single largest carbon emitter, Drax, has applied with the University of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority for public support to use its tree burning to power an AI data centre as pa...

Drax, the University of York and the North Yorkshire Combined Authority have just submitted a bid to host an AI data centre at Drax, powered by burning millions of trees. The Government recently de...

Drax, the University of York and the North Yorkshire Combined Authority have just submitted a bid to host an AI data centre at Drax, powered by burning millions of trees. The Government recently de...

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched an investigation into the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burner, Drax, over concerns about its sourcing of wood pellets to burn at its power station in Yorkshire. This investigation relates to shocking revelations from BBC Panorama and Conservation North about Drax’s continued logging of previously untouched primary forests in British Columbia in Canada and Drax’s £25m payment to Ofgem last year for misreporting its data on its sourcing of wood from Canadian forests. Drax already receives around £2m per day in renewable subsidies from our energy bills to burn trees and the Government has recently undone stricter greenhouse gas emissions rules so that it can grant massive new renewable subsidies to Drax when the current subsidies end in 2027. At the same time, the Government is considering whether to grant Drax even more public money for its joint funding bid with the University of York, North Yorkshire Council and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to use its tree burning to power an AI data centre at Drax as part of an ‘Artificial Intelligence Growth Zone’. If these new subsidies go ahead and Drax’s AI data centre bid is successful, it will mean more forest destruction, more pollution of communities, more harm to nature and even more climate-wrecking emissions - all at our expense. The Government has not yet finalised the contract with Drax for the new subsidies and it still has time to reconsider its plans to waste around £1.8 billion of our money on a big polluter that has been fined multiple times for air pollution violations and that is now under being investigated by the UK’s financial watchdog. Please contact your MP today and ask them to speak up for forests, wildlife, communities and the climate by calling on the Government to reject Drax’s AI data centre funding bid and to halt plans for Drax’s new subsidies.