The Drax Foundation, the charitable entity of renewable energy company Drax Group (Drax), has donated £862,000 to 19 non-profit organizations across the regions where it operates in the UK and North America.

•    New funding will go to projects where Drax Group operates in the UK, USA and Canada and takes Drax’s donations in 2023 to over £4.6m.  
•    This latest donation of nearly £1m will enable over 32,000 young people to access STEM training, 1,229 ha of land to be restored and over 20,000 people to get better access to green spaces.  

Shona King, Drax Head of Community, said: “In its first year, The Drax Foundation has established a proud track record of giving back to the communities where we operate. We are guided by the needs of our non-profit partners, which is why we are pleased to fund some of their challenging areas of work.”

Shona continued: “2023 has seen an exciting new chapter in how Drax delivers positive social impact and made a tangible difference to people’s lives. We are excited about the opportunity to build on this over the coming years to ensure that more young people can develop their STEM skills, have access to quality local green spaces, and be lifted out of fuel poverty through access to affordable renewable energy, and energy efficiency measures”.
The new funding has been awarded across the UK, US and Canada and is the second round of grants the Foundation has issued since it was launched in March 2023. 

Of the total, over £300,000 has been donated to eight projects in the UK, where Drax operates Drax Power Station and has other operations in Northampton, Suffolk and Scotland. 
Over US $348,000 has been awarded to six different projects in North America where Drax owns several pellet plants and has recently opened its BECCS headquarters. These include: 

•    The Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering: Working to improve equitable access to training in engineering for minority communities across Texas.  
•    The Central Creativity Foundation: improve access to STEM education for young learners in rural Mississippi 
•    Center for Planning Excellence: Empowering low-income communities in Louisiana to build climate resilience through urban forests. Over CAD $457,000 has been awarded to five different projects near to Drax’s pellet operations in Canada: 
•    Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology: Engaging and inspiring women from underrepresented groups in STEM programs and advocacy 
•    Williams Lake First Nation: Supporting a fish and wildlife stewardship program to build on traditional sustainable land use to protect biodiversity and preserve local ecosystems  
•    Nature Truskjt BC: Conserving British Columbia’s biological diversity by securing and managing critical habitat across the province.