There is a strange irony in the way climate guilt gets monetized. Large energy firms in wealthy nations brand biomass as a clean bridge — a pathway away from fossil fuels. But according to experts following the supply chain, Britain’s Drax power station has continued burning wood sourced from trees as old as 250 years, harvested from Canadian forests.
This is not a minor allegation. These are trees that sprouted before industrial capitalism existed. Before electricity. Before kerosene. Before the age that created climate change itself. Turning them into pellets — and then into smoke — means converting centuries of stored carbon into instant atmospheric legacy.
Biomass is supposed to mean residues, waste, already-fallen material. And yet, the market has pushed toward volume, not principle. Energy firms need consistent feedstock. Forests are consistent feedstock. The logic is brutal and rational. The marketing is gentle and soothing.
In the end, the narrative loops back on itself: renewable energy built on irreplaceable time. Drax denies wrongdoing, and insists its sourcing is legal. But legality is a thin refuge inside an era where the conversation has evolved toward planetary arithmetic rather than compliance.
The planet doesn’t care whether the paperwork matches. It only cares that yesterday’s forests are not tomorrow’s smoke.