By Dave Branco

Drax UK exit sparks B.C. debate over forests, pellets, and jobs

Mar 4, 2026 | 2:06 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Recent shifts in the global wood pellet industry have started a debate in BC about forestry, climate impacts, and local jobs. Drax, a UK-based energy company, plans to stop using wood pellets from BC at its power plant in England. Environmental groups believe this move will not affect BC much, but the province’s Forest Minister disagrees. Ravi Parmar, BC’s forests minister, says critics are spreading fear and insists the industry uses byproducts from forestry, not old-growth trees.

Michelle Connolly from Conservation North says that although Drax stopping shipments to the UK seems important, the situation in BC is actually much more complex.

Conservation North reports that about 75 percent of pellets made from primary forests in BC are already sent to Japan instead of the UK. In 2025, Japan imported 1.29 million tonnes of pellets from Canada.

Connolly also mentions B.C.’s Grade 4 Credit system, which she says leads to more logging for the pellet industry. This system lets companies that supply wood to a Drax pellet mill cut the same amount of wood elsewhere, which increases industrial forestry beyond what the pellet plants require.

Drax UK exit sparks B.C. debate over forests, pellets, and jobs

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Forest Minister Ravi Parmar says BC uses some of the world’s strongest sustainable harvesting practices. He adds that pellet plants use leftover byproducts from logging, not valuable logs from primary forests. Parmar also notes that Drax and the wider biomass sector are facing economic challenges.

The BC government says it is looking at different policies to support and change the province’s forest sector, including a move toward what it calls a bio-economy. Drax has not yet said what these changes will mean for its seven BC operations.