Drax Joins World Economic Forum's First Movers Coalition

Joining coalition underpins Drax's ambition to be world leader in carbon removals market

MONROE, La., Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Drax today announced its membership to the First Movers Coalition (FMC), playing its part in the development of the nascent carbon dioxide removals (CDR) market and working toward becoming a global leader in the potentially trillion-dollar sector.

The FMC, which was launched at COP26 by U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, is a coalition of companies who use their collective purchasing power to create early markets for innovative clean technologies. Led by the World Economic Forum and the U.S. Department of State, the FMC is currently focused on addressing eight hard to abate industries, which are currently responsible for 30% of global emissions, such as shipping and aviation.

Drax will join the Carbon Dioxide Removals group, comprised of businesses with commitments to purchase durable and scalable carbon removals from solutions such as Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), a vital new technology, in which Drax is a pioneer.

Carbon removals are used by organizations to balance their hard-to-abate carbon emissions, achieve a net zero and, in some cases, a carbon negative status. Longer lasting and lower risk carbon credits, such as the types generated by carbon removals technologies, are increasing in demand as more organizations look to hit their decarbonization targets.

"The commitments to carbon dioxide removals we are seeing in the market now are essential to accelerating the deployment of climate saving technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) which we will need to meet our climate goals," said Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax Group. "We welcome the opportunity to join the World Economic Forum in their efforts developing early markets for innovative technologies like BECCS."

"We are thrilled to welcome Drax to the First Movers Coalition and look forward to working alongside the company to drive the acceleration of the global carbon removals market," said Nancy Gillis, Program Head of the First Movers Coalition at the World Economic Forum.

"The First Movers Coalition believes that reducing emissions to net-zero by 2050 is possible if the right technologies are brought to commercial scale within the next decade, and we need companies like Drax to champion this mission to enact the change we need," said Gillis.

With the right government engagement, Drax plans to invest billions over the coming years in global carbon removals and renewable energy projects, with the aim of capturing 14Mt a year of carbon removals by 2030 globally and to be a global leader in carbon removal projects.

"Through BECCS, Drax aims to be a global leader in high-integrity carbon removals and as part of that ambition we welcome the opportunity to demonstrate leadership and investment in the sector," said Gardiner.

Contact Information:

Michelli Martin
Communications Manager, US
318-372-3988
[email protected]

Editor's Notes:

• Drax is an international, growing, sustainable business at the heart of global efforts to deliver net zero and energy security, and is accelerating its progress in the development of global BECCS projects.
• Nearly all pathways to limit global warming to 1.5C require carbon removal technologies, such as BECCS.
• The IPCC believes that globally up to 9.5 billion tons of CDRs via BECCS will be required per year by 2050.
• Carbon dioxide removals can be used by organizations to balance their hard-to-abate carbon emissions, achieve a net zero and, in some cases, a carbon negative status.
• Longer lasting and lower risk carbon credits, such as the types generated by carbon removals technologies, are increasing in demand as more organisations look to hit their decarbonization targets.

About Drax

Drax Group's purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.

Drax's around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com/us. 

Power generation:

Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK's largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country's electricity needs. 

Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become -the UK's biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonization project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage) Incubation Area.

Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan. 

The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tons of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.

Pellet production and supply: 
The Group has 19 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tons a year.

Drax is targeting 8 million tons of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tons of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.

Drax's pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK's homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.

Customers:

Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimization, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.

To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com

About First Movers Coalition

The First Movers Coalition is a global initiative harnessing the purchasing power of companies to decarbonize seven hard-to-abate industrial sectors that currently account for 30 percent of global emissions: aluminium, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel and trucking, along with innovative carbon removal technologies.

The coalition's members commit in advance to purchasing a proportion of the industrial materials and long-distance transportation they need from suppliers using near-zero or zero-carbon solutions, despite the premium cost.

SOURCE Drax