UK-based Drax, which runs the world’s largest tree-burning power plant, has made numerous misleading statements regarding where it gets the wood it burns, some of those live on camera. Now, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened an investigation into Drax’s sourcing and the veracity of its Annual reports. But the UK has another agency that oversees corporate governance, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).  Back in March 2025, we submitted a formal complaint to the FRC regarding Drax Group’s 2023 and 2024 Annual Reports, but we did not announce that publicly.  Once the FCA announced the investigation into Drax, we decided to make our FRC complaint public, and to send it along to the FCA, as well, in case it can help their investigation.

We are publishing two documents we submitted to the FRC:

Summary of misleading statements in Drax 2023 report

Summary of misleading statements in Drax 2024 report

We believe Drax has failed to meet its legal duties under the Companies Act 2006, which requires companies to give a fair and comprehensive account of the factors shaping their business, including their impact on the environment. Drax’s reports present a polished narrative and omit and distort the reality of logging and burning forests for fuel.

Our complaint sets out five main issues:

• Pretending millions of tonnes of CO₂ exhaust don’t warm the planet – By claiming “low carbon” status, Drax paints a false picture of its climate impact. Burning biomass emits CO₂ that warms the planet just as effectively as fossil carbon, yet the company pretends its emissions are “net zero.”
• False “carbon negative by 2030” claims – Drax claims it will deliver “carbon negative” energy using biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). This is inconsistent with both physical reality and with the IPCC’s GHG reporting protocols.
• Downplaying risks that BECCS won’t deliver – Drax’s reports gloss over the technological and financial uncertainties surrounding BECCS, despite it being the cornerstone of Drax’s business plan.
• Logging forests for fuel – Despite evidence showing that Drax continues to log Canadian old-growth and forests of the US Southeast, the company’s reporting emphasises Drax’s “green” credentials.
• Ignoring pollution breaches – Drax’s reports barely acknowledge hundreds of environmental violations at its pellet plants in North America, downplaying the scale of local air pollution and impacts on communities.

Taken together, these failings mislead investors, policymakers, and the public. They also raise serious questions about whether Drax’s directors could be personally liable for losses caused by misleading statements and omissions in the reports. As reported in Private Eye, “Drax’s lawyers have advised that if such ‘misstatements’ re issued formally to the market it can ‘render {Drax management] subject to a statutory regime for liability for misleading statements,’ potentially a criminal offence.”

We asked the FRC to investigate and to hold Drax accountable, and we’re also providing our report to the FCA to assist with their investigation. In the meantime, the Government should suspend any plan to continue subsidies for Drax (see our full comments to the Subsidies Control Unit for the reasons why).