Offshore Oil and Gas: Venting and Flaring

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)]

As we know, Great British Energy has been set up in recent months. We have a great approach on the strategy for creating jobs. We are going to see jobs in solar, wind farms and nuclear, and we are making predictions that there will be thousands of jobs in the pipeline. As I said on a previous occasion on nuclear, for example, we are establishing the foundations for a golden age of nuclear energy that will generate a lot of power and jobs, and that is something to be optimistic about.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, in July the World Bank reported that, in the last year, the fossil fuel industry had pumped out an extra 389 million tonnes of carbon pollution from flaring gas. That number rose for the second year in a row to the highest level since 2007. Will the Government make strong representations at COP 30 about gas flaring, and would we not be in a stronger position if we were further ahead in our own industry?

[Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for that question. The COP meeting is in Brazil next month. We are advising the Brazilian Government on how to control zero routine flaring going forward, and we are not just doing it there—we are also doing it with the central Asian republics and Finland. We have a good reputation on this. There is more to do, but we are getting on with it. We have signed up to the World Bank’s zero routine flaring by 2030 initiative, and we intend to meet that target.