Drax employee sacked after accusing renewable energy company of greenwashing

Yahoo

06-03-2025

A Drax employee was sacked after raising concerns about the greenwashing of the wood-burning firm's environmental credentials, a tribunal has heard.
The renewable energy company has received billions in taxpayer subsidies to support the burning of wood pellets at the UK's biggest power plant in north Yorkshire.
Rowaa Ahmar was employed by the company in 2022, when BBC Panorama released a documentary which alleged the company used wood from healthy forests in Canada instead of burned waste wood.
Ms Ahmar claims she was dismissed after raising concerns with senior figures that Drax covered up its use of unsustainable wood.
An employment tribunal in London was told that Drax commissioned a fact-finding investigation, carried out by consultants KPMG, into the sustainability of its wood following the Panorama programme.
The tribunal heard that Ms Ahmar was told not to pass on to senior managers the interim findings of a report which her lawyers claim found the company did use unsustainable wood and had misreported data to the regulator Ofgem. However, she later raised concerns with Brett Gladden, Drax company secretary.
Ms Ahmar raised issues with senior managers on several occasions, the tribunal was told, including claims of an internal cover-up of the use of unsustainable wood.
She also accused Drax of inaccuracies in the company's communications with the Government, Ofgem and the public about its sourcing.
Ms Ahmar was eventually dismissed on Jan 17 2024 after she was placed on a prolonged 'special leave' on full pay.
Lawyers for Drax claim that during Ms Ahmar's time at the company there was 'a total, fundamental and intractable breakdown in working relationships' with numerous colleagues.
The tribunal was told the breakdown 'pre-dated, and was entirely unrelated to' any of the disclosures Ms Ahmar later made.
The case is expected to continue for a further 20 days.
Last month Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, signed off hundreds of millions of pounds in further subsidies to Drax, despite controversy over the environmental impact of burning wood.
Biomass is classed as renewable energy, despite concerns over the short-term emissions from burning wood, and questions over sourcing of wood pellets.
The Government halved the subsidies paid to the company under the new deal announced last month, but it said continued backing for Drax was necessary for energy security.
Drax has maintained that it uses wood from sustainable sources, but last year agreed to pay £25million after Ofgem found it had submitted inaccurate data on the sources of biomass from Canada.
The regulator said the breach was 'technical in nature' and there was no evidence it had been deliberate.
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