Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which (a) groups and (b) individuals his Department has invited to work with the Government on developing a strategy for carbon capture and storage in the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department continues to engage with the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry, including with individual developers and the CCS Association as well as others such as the Committee on Climate Change, on the next steps on CCS in the UK. The Department also continues to host the CCS Development Forum, which brings government and the CCS industry together.
In addition, BEIS officials are providing support to Lord Oxburgh’s CCS Advisory Group which will report to Government on their findings and recommendations on the future of CCS in the UK.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions Ministers in (a) his Department and (b) the Department for Energy and Climate Change before its merger with his Department have had with industry representatives on the future trajectory of the carbon price floor in 2016.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Department has a wide number of conversations with industry representatives on a number of issues surrounding wholesale electricity, markets and decarbonisation, which includes the carbon price floor. However, policy responsibility for its future trajectory lies with HM Treasury.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of whether it will be necessary to bring forward new (a) primary or (b) secondary legislation to implement the UK's obligations under the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Answered by Nick Hurd
No immediate changes are needed to the UK’s legislation on climate change in order to implement our obligations under the Paris Agreement. The UK is already playing its part in delivering the Agreement through its Climate Change Act 2008. The Committee on Climate Change has said that it will report in the Autumn on the future implications of Paris for the UK. We shall want to consider carefully the CCC’s recommendations.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change in the UK will follow the procedure for an EU external treaty.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK remains firmly committed to the Paris Agreement and to ratifying the Agreement as soon as possible. Until we leave, the UK will remain a full member of the EU, with all of the rights and obligations this entails.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which (a) minister and (b) Government officials attended the Petersberg Climate Dialogue on 4 and 5 July 2016; and what the outcomes of that meeting were.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The UK was represented by Peter Betts, Director, International Climate Change at what was formerly DECC, now BEIS, and another government official.
The full conclusions of the meeting are published by the German government at:
http://www.bmub.bund.de/fileadmin/Daten_BMU/Download_PDF/Klimaschutz/petersberg7_conclusions_bf.pdf and included as an annex here to be published in the House Libraries.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the UK plans to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change separately and independently of the EU.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK remains firmly committed to the Paris Agreement and to ratifying the Agreement as soon as possible. Until we leave the EU, the UK will remain a full member, with all of the rights and obligations this entails.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on ensuring that the Government's policy on unabated coal is reflected adequately in the National Planning Policy Framework guidelines.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Energy National Policy Statements (EN1 – Overarching and EN2- Fossil Fuel Electricity Generating Infrastructure) set out the current position with respect to new unabated coal-fired generating stations. We will be launching a consultation on how we will we fulfil the Government’s commitment to phase out existing unabated coal generation shortly.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to respond to the letter of 3 June 2016, from offshore wind companies to EU energy ministers in the June EU Energy Council.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has already set out long term visibility and certainty for the offshore wind industry in the UK, which is the largest market in the world.
In November last year, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced that the UK could support up to 10GW of new offshore wind in the 2020s subject to costs continuing to fall. In Budget 2016 the Government announced that it will auction Contracts for Difference of up to £730 million this Parliament for up to 4GW of offshore wind and other less established renewables, with a first auction of £290 million. Support for offshore wind will be capped initially at £105/MWh (in 2011-12 prices), falling to £85/MWh for projects commissioning by 2026.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations in the first report of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, published in April 2016.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) requires implementing countries to form a Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) consisting of industry, civil society and government, who work in partnership to implement EITI. The MSG meets every 2 months with the next meeting on 12 July.
The UK MSG is currently reviewing the first year’s report and these recommendations form part of that review.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many UK Government officials and from which departments attended the Bonn intersessional UN climate meeting in (a) May 2016, (b) October 2015 and (c) June 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 25 Government officials in the UK delegation at Bonn in May 2016; 25 Government officials in the UK delegation at Bonn in October 2015 and 44 Government officials in the UK delegation at Bonn in June 2015. The UK delegation included officials from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development and the Scottish Government at each of these sessions. Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Met Office were present at the meeting in Bonn in June 2015.