Renewable energy firm Drax has formed a partnership with geospatial technology specialist NGIS to track and model carbon stocks in forests across the US and Canada. These forests supply the biomass used to power Drax’s operations, including the UK’s largest renewable energy site, Drax Power Station.
The initiative supports Drax’s commitment to improving transparency within its biomass supply chain. Under its Sustainability Framework, the company aims to provide verifiable data on forest carbon stocks in all primary sourcing areas by the end of 2026.
NGIS, a Google Premier Partner, will use satellite imagery and machine learning to assess carbon sequestration, tree cover, and forest health. The results will be presented through a digital platform that allows users to view historical and current satellite images showing harvesting and regrowth patterns.
Miguel Veiga-Pestana, Drax Group Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “We are proud to launch this new partnership with NGIS. This agreement will help us deliver on the commitments we set in our Sustainability Framework, including taking action, with our supply chain, to be deforestation, degradation, and conversion free.”
Drax has begun integrating this data into its supply chain management to strengthen sustainability practices, evaluate biodiversity, and measure the effects of environmental events such as fires and floods. The company’s biomass supply largely comes from residual wood materials, including sawdust, bark, and offcuts from the timber industry, which are processed into pellets for renewable power generation.
