Drax’s head of sustainability Dr Becky Heaton is stepping down from her membership of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) after concerns were raised that combining the two roles represented a conflict of interest.
The announcement comes ahead of Heaton’s move to become director of sustainability at Ovo later this summer.
Her appointment to the CCC in 2017 was criticised by environmentalists who have expressed concerns about the sustainability of Drax’s biomass generation.
The company has been developing plans to turn its North Yorkshire site into the world’s first “negative emissions” power plant by fitting carbon and capture storage technology to two of the four former coal units it has converted to burn biomass.
In its sixth carbon budget report, published last year, the CCC calculated that 3 to 4 GW of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) will be required to help meet its target to cut the UK’s emissions to 78 per cent of 1990 levels by 2035.
The CCC told the Financial Times that Heaton had “stood back” from discussions about bioenergy.
But Lord Randall, who served as Theresa May’s environment advisor when she was prime minister, wrote to the National Audit Office earlier this year raising concerns that Heaton’s roles with Drax and the CCC raised “a real or perceived conflict”.
He added: “Her continuing membership with the committees and employment with Drax may be contrary to the public interest.”
Responding to the news that Heaton’s is stepping down, Lord Randall said: “While never wishing to imply that Dr Heaton acted in any way that was not appropriate, I am pleased to see that this potential conflict of interest has now been resolved as a result of her new appointment.
“The question of whether the UK taxpayer should continue to subsidise the biomass industry at the current very high level is still ongoing.”
Lord Deben, chairman of the CCC, said he was “immensely grateful” to Heaton for her “exemplary service”, particularly in her role as the climate watchdog’s champion for Wales.
He said: “She has brought such insight to our work, helping us to understand the challenges that businesses face and the many benefits they can bring as the UK seeks to clean up its economy.
“Beyond that, Becky’s deep knowledge and experience has proven invaluable and I would like to thank her sincerely for her dedicated commitment to delivering the highest standard of independent advice to government on climate change.”
A Drax spokesperson said: “Drax has a world-leading sustainable biomass sourcing policy which goes beyond regulations. BECCS is a negative emissions technology widely acknowledged to be essential to global efforts to address the climate emergency – including by the world’s leading authority on climate change, the UN IPCC.
“By using BECCS at Drax to become a carbon negative company, we will be permanently removing millions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere and making a significant contribution towards reaching the UK’s net zero by 2050 target – whilst transforming the UK’s largest power station, protecting and creating thousands of jobs and supporting a post-covid recovery.”
Heaton said: “It has been the privilege of my career to serve on the CCC and I am immensely proud of the work that we have done to raise climate ambition across the UK since 2017, including advising on the adoption of the landmark net zero target and the world-leading 6th carbon budget. I owe a debt of gratitude to the dedicated secretariat for the outstanding insight, analysis and rigour of their work.
“I am also grateful to my fellow committee members for their diverse and rich contributions to our deliberations, and to the government and politicians of all parties who have set aside political expediency to embrace our ambitious and often challenging recommendations.”
The CCC has said that a replacement will be sought “in due course”.