Environment and Climate Emergency

Lord Haskel Excerpts

Monday 1st July 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Haskel]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take following the adoption by the House of Commons on 1 May of a motion declaring an environment and climate emergency.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Henley) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government recognise the urgency of tackling climate change and protecting our environment. Following the Committee on Climate Change report, we have introduced legislation to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

[Lord Haskel (Lab)]

My Lords, contrary to the Prime Minister’s misrepresentation, we on these Benches support the Government’s climate change initiative, but can we not do better by establishing a model that other nations can follow? When setting the model, will the Government ensure that there will be no creative accounting in carbon by offsetting imports, using international credits or carrying forward over- performance, and that we will introduce environmental stress testing and report? Then, we can be really proud of our achievement.

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am grateful for the support of the noble Lord and the party opposite. I regretted its Motion on Wednesday last week because, as I made clear in the debate on the statutory instrument, I thought that it was unnecessary. We have set realistic targets following the advice that we received from the Committee on Climate Change—targets that we believe we can and should meet—and, as we set out in the order, we will aim to meet them.