Anne McGuire MP has tabled a House of Commons early-day motion calling on the government to rethink its support for large-scale biomass power and the danger it poses to the wood-based panel industry.
Ms McGuire, chair of the wood panel industry All-Party Parliamentary Group, tabled the motion in a bid to highlight the strengths of the wood panel industry in the face of government subsisidies to energy companies
The motion, EDM 1788 reads: “That this House recognises the important contribution of the wood manufacturing sector to the UK economy; is alarmed by the inefficiency of burning wood to generate electricity alone; doubts the sustainability and environmental benefits of large-scale biomass energy; is greatly alarmed that a single biomass plant could consume a quarter of the UK’s annual wood harvest; is concerned that the Renewables Obligation is distorting the domestic wood market; supports the wood panel industry’s campaign, Make Wood Work, to promote the optimal use of a valuable and limited resource; notes that the wood panel industry contributes over a third of industrial renewable heat generation and is the largest processor of waste wood; further recognises the vital contribution of wood products in storing carbon; and calls on the government to move biomass support from low-efficiency electricity generation to high-efficiency heat and combined heat and power.”
To view who is supporting the motion visit click here.
