The UK spent almost £2 billion on subsidising the logging of forests for bioenergy last year.

That’s one of the key findings of a new report by Trinomics, which was commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and found that Britain spent the biggest sum of money on bioenergy than the 11 other European countries analysed.

Analysts suggest the UK gave £1.8 billion in subsidies to the bioenergy industry, an estimated 70% increase from 2015.

According to the report, the UK gave most of these subsidies to Drax.

Last month, Drax confronted BBC Panorama’s allegations that the energy company was cutting down trees from primary forests transforming them into wood pellets that would be later used to produce electricity.

Elly Pepper, Senior Advocate for NRDC, said: “The UK Government is forcing families and forests to pay the bill for an industry that is burning trees and worsening climate change.

“The UK and other governments, by wrongly claiming bioenergy is zero carbon, all have a hand on the axe that is bringing down the world’s forests.”

Phil MacDonald, Chief Operating Officer of energy think tank Ember, said: “We now know that burning forest bioenergy is not just very expensive – it can contribute to climate change.

“A cheaper, cleaner alternative exists: the UK’s enormous wind power resource, which is being rapidly harnessed to generate electricity and lower energy bills. In the middle of an energy bill crisis, the UK must end wasteful funding to bioenergy, and instead focus efforts on building truly emissions-free sources of electricity.”