Summary
- NRDC modelling estimates 4.9 million tonnes of annual wood consumption under its full-scale operating assumptions.
- The same analysis estimates 8.6 million tonnes of annual CO₂ emissions.
- The figures are modelled estimates for a future 1.2GW concept, not measured emissions from an operating data centre.
Drax’s proposed data centre development in North Yorkshire is facing a new challenge over its potential carbon impact after campaign modelling estimated that a full 1.2GW development supplied largely from biomass could require 4.9 million tonnes of wood each year.
Analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council also estimates annual carbon dioxide emissions of 8.6 million tonnes under its assumptions. Drax disputes the analysis and its treatment of biomass emissions.
Neither figure is a measured result from an operating data centre. They model a future scenario in which the proposed campus reaches its full stated scale and operates continuously under the assumed power arrangement.
Drax is currently progressing a much smaller first phase of around 100MW at its Selby power station site, with a planning application still in development.
Scale and power source determine the model
An emissions estimate based on 1.2GW cannot be applied directly to a 100MW first phase. The amount of electricity consumed, the utilisation of the data halls and the generation used to supply them would all change the resulting fuel requirement.
The NRDC calculation uses information from Drax’s 2025 annual report and assumes continuous operation when estimating wood consumption. The campaign group then applies its treatment of biomass emissions to calculate the resulting carbon dioxide output.
Biomass accounting has been disputed for years because carbon is released when wood is burned while policy frameworks can recognise subsequent forest growth and sustainable sourcing within the wider emissions calculation.
Critics argue that the time between combustion and carbon being reabsorbed is environmentally significant and that increased wood demand can alter forestry outcomes. Drax maintains that its biomass complies with applicable sustainability requirements and rejects the campaign analysis.
The electrical design of the data centre also affects how closely its consumption can be linked to a particular generating unit. A campus connected at a power station site does not automatically consume electricity from one generator at every moment unless the physical and contractual arrangement is designed that way.
Drax has promoted the Selby site partly because substantial power and grid infrastructure already exists there. Reusing infrastructure around power stations can reduce some of the connection work faced by greenfield data centre developments, although additional substations and distribution systems may still be required.
The company has also linked its longer-term plans to bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. That introduces further assumptions because any claim of net carbon removal depends on the capture plant operating as intended, carbon dioxide being transported and stored permanently, and the treatment of biomass across its full supply chain.
The proposed data centre has not reached full planning, construction or operation. Its eventual emissions cannot therefore be established simply by multiplying the headline 1.2GW ambition by an assumed generation mix.
The campaign analysis nevertheless raises a question that the project will have to resolve as its design progresses: what additional generation would be required to serve the data centre, and how should the emissions from that generation be accounted for?
Planning and environmental assessment will need to deal with the infrastructure proposed for each phase rather than a generic gigawatt figure. Until the power arrangement, build sequence and operating load are defined, the NRDC numbers remain a contested scenario rather than an observed emissions profile.
