UK energy company Drax Group will announce plans later today to become a carbon negative company by 2030.
Drax chief executive Will Gardiner will make the announcement at a ‘Powering Past Coal Alliance’ event at UN climate talks (COP 25) in Madrid.
In order to achieve the goal, Drax will call for an effective negative emissions policy and investment framework for new technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
“Being carbon negative means that Drax will be removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it produces throughout its operations – creating a negative carbon footprint for the company within a decade,” it said.
Drax has already converted two-thirds of its coal-fired power station to use sustainable biomass.
In the first half of 2019, 94% of the power produced by Drax power station was renewable, the company said.
Drax is already running a BECCS pilot project at the power station capturing a tonne of carbon dioxide every day.
After closing its remaining two coal generating units by 2025 and using carbon capture technology on its biomass power generating units, the operations would become carbon negative by 2030, it said.
The company said that by combining sustainable biomass with carbon capture and storage at its biomass generating units in North Yorkshire, England, could capture 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Gardiner (pictured) said: “Drax’s ambition is to be carbon negative by 2030. Having pioneered the use of sustainable biomass, Drax now produces 12% of the UK’s renewable electricity.
“With the right negative emissions policy, we can do much more, removing millions of tonnes of emissions from the atmosphere each year.
“The UK government is working on a policy and investment framework to encourage negative emissions technologies, which will enable the UK to be home to the world’s first carbon negative company.
“This is not just critical to beating the climate crisis, but also to enabling a just transition, protecting jobs and creating new opportunities for clean growth – delivering for the economy as well as for the environment.”
Drax is a member of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which is an initiative launched by the UK and Canadian governments to accelerate the transition away from unabated coal.