Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of the threat to the earth’s climate posed by shrinking Arctic sea ice, in the light of a study by the University of Colorado Boulder, published in Nature on 4 March, which found that the Arctic’s first ice-free period could happen within a decade.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not assessed this review, however, its findings are consistent with the existing scientific literature and conclusions of the Sixth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This stated that the Arctic will likely be practically ice-free at least once before 2050 with more frequent occurrences under higher warming scenarios. The IPCC concluded that it is virtually certain the Arctic will continue to warm at least two times faster than the rest of the globe. Arctic sea ice retreat has and will lead to a range of impacts, including loss in biodiversity and coastal erosion.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any UK minister was in Dubai at COP28 on 12 December during negotiations to include the transitioning away from all fossil fuels in the UAE Consensus; and if no minister was present at that time, what assessment they have made of the impact this will have on British diplomacy and global influence.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 12 December Minister Stuart returned to the UK to attend Parliament in his role as an MP. There continued to be full UK representation at the summit throughout, with my noble Friend Lord Benyon representing the UK at Ministerial level alongside UK officials.
Minister Stuart continued to be the lead UK Minister for negotiations and remained in constant contact with the UK Lead Climate Negotiator and my noble Friend Lord Benyon, with any final decisions agreed with him. Minister Stuart returned on 13 December for the final day of negotiations and attended the closing plenary.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how long the post of the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change has been unfilled; and when if at all they plan to appoint a Secretary of State-level Climate Envoy, as recommended as a priority in the report by the Climate Change Committee Progress in reducing emissions, published on 28 June.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change finished in the role on 31 March 2023.
There are no plans to appoint a climate envoy. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero leads on international climate change for the UK. The Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero represented the UK at the COP28 negotiations as Ministerial Head of Delegation.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings they have had with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and at what level of government these meetings took place; and what meetings with Mr Kerry were held in the lead-up to COP 28.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Ministers across Government regularly meet with Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry to discuss a range of climate change, energy and environment-related issues, including policy related to COP28.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what response they plan to make to the call for unified global action by Climate Emergency Day, following the Climate Clock ticking below six years.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is driving global climate ambition through its leadership in the UNFCCC process, multilateral forums such as the G7 and G20, and through international climate finance commitments and diplomatic networks. The Government is committed to spending £11.6 billion on international climate finance and is delivering on that pledge.
COP28 will involve the first ever Global Stocktake of progress against the Paris Agreement. It must galvanise a step change in action and ambition from all involved.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they intend to take in response to the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) Progress Report to Parliament 2023, published on 28 June 2023, which states that the CCC’s confidence in the UK meeting its Net Zero goals from 2030 onwards is now “markedly” less than it was in their previous assessment a year ago, and in particular, their conclusion that better transparency is no substitute for real delivery; and what action they are taking (1) to speed up (a) the rollout of heat pumps and (b) the tree planting, and (2) to increase their support for cleaner, cheaper alternatives over the production of new coal, oil and gas, and (3) to encourage people to reduce high carbon activities, as identified in the Progress Report as areas in need of improvement.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We will publish our full response to the recent CCC Progress Report this coming Autumn, as per statutory requirements.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they intend to take, together with international partners, to address climate change in light of reports based on the Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI), that heat is now accumulating at a faster rate, causing the temperature of oceans to rise to record levels; and (2) whether this will include ‘concerted international efforts for climate change monitoring and community-based recommendations’ and ‘urgently needed actions for enabling continuity, archiving, rescuing, and calibrating efforts to assure improved and long-term monitoring capacity of the global climate observing system’ as called for by the study, Heat Stored In The Earth System 1960–2020: Where Does The Energy Go?
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is driving global climate ambition through its leadership in multilateral forums, including the UN COP process, G7 and G20 forums, as well as through its International Climate Finance commitments and diplomatic networks. The UK supports and contributes to the WMO’s Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) which assesses the status of global climate observations and participates in the Intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to improve the availability, access, and use of Earth observations.