Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential for farm conversion of agri-food bio-wastes into bioenergy in the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. We are interpreting this question as a request for information on the Government’s assessment of the role that anaerobic digestion (AD) can play in both treating food wastes and generating bioenergy.
I recognise the valuable contribution that wastes, including food derived wastes, can make towards our carbon targets when used in AD to produce biogas and biomethane.
The recently closed non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (NDRHI) provided financial support for AD plants, including on farms. As of December 2020, the NDRHI has supported 95 biomethane to grid plants and in 2019 supported the production of ~3.6TWh of biomethane injected into the gas grid. In 2018, the NDRHI changed to include a waste feedstock minimum threshold of 50%, to incentivise the use of wastes in the production of biomethane. The Green Gas Support Scheme, due to launch on 30 November 2021, is a successor to the biomethane element of the NDRHI and will maintain this minimum threshold.
Evidence indicates that the existing stock of AD plants, including on farms, may have the capacity to treat more food waste. As such, we are assessing the potential to increase waste that goes to AD.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of phasing out the use of SF6 gas in electrical switchgear in response to its high global warming potential.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) is a potent fluorinated greenhouse gas (F-gas) that contributes to climate change. F-gases currently represent about 3% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, with SF6 emissions representing around 3% of those F-gas emissions. The UK has made significant progress in reducing and controlling the use of F-gases, highlighted by the 34.3% reduction in UK emissions of all F-gases since 1995 levels.
Compliance with the F-gas Regulation 2014 is how the UK currently controls SF6 emissions. Under the Regulation, equipment containing SF6 is subject to requirements on leak reduction, checking and rapid repair using appropriately qualified personnel. The intentional release of SF6 is also prohibited and steps must be taken to minimise unintentional release.
We are currently reviewing the provisions of the F-gas Regulation which we are required to complete by no later than 2022. As part of the review, we will consider how we can go further in support of the UK's net zero target. We will be assessing all parts of the Regulation, including the provisions relating to SF6 use, in light of this.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the amount of SF6 gas that is (a) manufactured in the UK, (b) imported in to the UK and (c) exported from the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) is a potent fluorinated greenhouse gas (F-gas) that contributes to climate change. F-gases currently represent about 3% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, with SF6 emissions representing around 3% of those F-gas emissions. The UK has made significant progress in reducing and controlling the use of F-gases, highlighted by the 34.3% reduction in UK emissions of all F-gases since 1995 levels.
Compliance with the F-gas Regulation 2014 is how the UK currently controls SF6 emissions. Under the Regulation, equipment containing SF6 is subject to requirements on leak reduction, checking and rapid repair using appropriately qualified personnel. The intentional release of SF6 is also prohibited and steps must be taken to minimise unintentional release.
We are currently reviewing the provisions of the F-gas Regulation which we are required to complete by no later than 2022. As part of the review, we will consider how we can go further in support of the UK's net zero target. We will be assessing all parts of the Regulation, including the provisions relating to SF6 use, in light of this.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of (a) trends in SF6 gas emissions and (b) the effect of the continued use of SF6 gases in electrical switchgear on SF6 gas accumulation in the atmosphere.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) is a potent fluorinated greenhouse gas (F-gas) that contributes to climate change. F-gases currently represent about 3% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, with SF6 emissions representing around 3% of those F-gas emissions. The UK has made significant progress in reducing and controlling the use of F-gases, highlighted by the 34.3% reduction in UK emissions of all F-gases since 1995 levels.
Compliance with the F-gas Regulation 2014 is how the UK currently controls SF6 emissions. Under the Regulation, equipment containing SF6 is subject to requirements on leak reduction, checking and rapid repair using appropriately qualified personnel. The intentional release of SF6 is also prohibited and steps must be taken to minimise unintentional release.
We are currently reviewing the provisions of the F-gas Regulation which we are required to complete by no later than 2022. As part of the review, we will consider how we can go further in support of the UK's net zero target. We will be assessing all parts of the Regulation, including the provisions relating to SF6 use, in light of this.
Asked by: Lord Whitehead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to recommendation in the report published in July 2021 by the National Food Strategy that meat consumption in the UK should be reduced by 30 per cent by 2030 to protect people's health, the environment and the planet, whether his Department plans to take steps to (a) incentivise investment in alternatives to animal-based foods and (b) support business innovation in the plant-based protein sector.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We are grateful to Henry Dimbleby and his team for their work on this independent review examining our food system and the vital role it plays in all our lives. We are committed carefully to consider the Independent Review and its recommendations and will be responding in full with a White Paper in the next six months. The White Paper will set out the Government’s ambition and priorities for a food system that will deliver for people, nature and climate, and support our farmers to produce the high-quality, high-welfare produce for which they are renowned.
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Hon. Members with an elephantine memory will recall that at the beginning of this Committee’s deliberations—I have here the exact date and time a clause is debated; it is written on a piece of parchment, it is so …
..."Although the Minister has provided a good concordance on where to look in the Bill for things that could conceivably pull it together, nothing in the Bill actually does that. Saying that if one looks at the Bill carefully, one can see things that move it in the right direction, …
..."I do not think a healthy and resilient environment can be interpreted in any other way than an environment that needs to be as healthy as possible for human development and progress, and one that is able to regenerate itself and keep as close as possible to the most beneficial …
..."Mr Gray, we consider that the aims of new clause 33 have already been aired in new clause 29—we know the result of that—so we do not wish to move it.
New Clause 34
Reducing Water Demand
“(1) The Secretary of State shall within 12 months of the commencement of …
..."Further to that point of order, Mr Gray. At the risk of straining the point of order, I would like to add my thanks at the conclusion of our Bill Committee proceedings. They have been immensely long, as my hon. Friend the Member for Putney has enumerated, with 230 amendments …
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