Will Gardiner

Chief Executive Officer, Drax

Search every verified Will Gardiner interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax Group, has continued to advocate for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) as a key technology for achieving net-zero emissions. In interviews and presentations from 2019 to 2022, Gardiner stated that Drax aims to become a carbon-negative company by 2030, with the goal of deploying BECCS at scale by 2027. He described Drax's transition from coal to sustainable biomass, noting that the company reduced its CO2 emissions by 84% since 2012 and now produces about 12% of the UK's renewable power. Gardiner said the world needs to remove 5 to 10 gigatons of CO2 per year by 2050 to stay within 1.5 degrees of warming, and argued that BECCS could provide 2 to 4 gigatons of that removal. Gardiner also discussed Drax's role in providing flexible power to complement wind and solar, and its work with partners on carbon capture innovation, including trials with Japanese technology. He urged governments to maintain policy support for carbon removal, stating that "the time to wait before we start removing is gone." Gardiner described Drax's vision as ultimately becoming a "carbon management company" focused on negative emissions. He acknowledged that biomass is a "slightly more difficult story" to explain to the public compared to wind or solar, but maintained that sustainable biomass from managed forests is renewable and supports forest health.