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Biofuels: Regulation

Asked by Sir Mark HendrickLabour (Co-op)Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled Answered 28 April 2026UIN 128193

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen regulations on biomass energy production and waste incineration companies, including to ensure the sector takes responsibility for reducing its carbon emissions.

Answered by Michael Shanks

Biomass electricity generators receiving support must comply with strict sustainability criteria covering supply chain greenhouse gas emissions. The government is developing a cross-sector biomass sustainability framework to further strengthen these requirements and enable consistency between government supported sectors.

Waste incineration facilities are regulated through the relevant environmental permitting regime, which sets emissions limits and monitoring requirements. The government is committed to expanding the scope of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to waste incineration. This will price emissions from the sector and incentivise decarbonisation. The UK ETS Authority will set out final policy design in due course.

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