Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
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 the sustainability of sourcing rare earths for battery technology.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is aware of the socioeconomic, environmental and supply concerns surrounding the mining of raw materials for electric vehicle (EV) batteries and is taking steps to address these.
The Government has committed £274m into the Faraday Battery Challenge (FBC) to support the research, development and scale-up of world-leading battery technology in the UK.
This include research to make better use of global resources and support a more circular economy; for example, by reducing the amount of critical raw materials, such as cobalt, that are used in EV batteries, and localising more of the battery supply chain to the UK. The Faraday Institution’s £10m ‘ReLiB’ (Reuse and Recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries) research project is developing the technological, economic and legal infrastructure to allow close to 100% of the materials in lithium-ion batteries to be reused or recycled at the end of their first life. Through the Faraday Institution, the UK participates in the Global Battery Alliance: a World Economic Forum initiative seeking to accelerate action towards a socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and innovative battery value chain.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to create jobs in UK-based hydrogen technology businesses.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is committed to exploring the?development?of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier, alongside electricity and other decarbonised gases. Recently, the government published its Energy Innovation Needs Assessment (EINA) for hydrogen and fuel cells which identified that in 2050 up to 15,000 jobs per annum could be created through domestic hydrogen opportunities. In order to support the development of hydrogen, unlocking jobs and growth we are:
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
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 the lifecycle emissions of battery technology.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Transport developed the Transport Energy Model, published in 2018, to provide a clear assessment of the relative environmental impacts of different road vehicle technologies and fuels. This showed that battery electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK have substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional petrol or diesel cars, even when taking into account the energy mix of the electricity to charge the vehicle and the electricity used for battery production.
In order to obtain their full environmental benefits, EVs and their batteries need to be manufactured using electricity from carbon-free sources. With the Government’s announcement of up to £1 billion to support EV supply chains, our increasing use of carbon-free energy sources, and our commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the UK is an attractive option for investment in low-carbon battery manufacture.