Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Coventry East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to phase out the use of coal to generate electricity.
Answered by Claire Perry
Following consultation in November 2016 we have confirmed our commitment to regulate the closure of unabated coal power generation units by 2025. We published our policy detail in the consultation response of 5 January 2018, which set out that unabated coal power stations will need to close by 1 October 2025 unless they invest to reduce their emissions significantly to 450gCO2 per kWh, and that we will prepare the required legislation in good time before the capacity market auctions of 2021/22 (for delivery in 2025/26).
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Coventry East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, by how much the UK waste management sector will have to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as a result of the agreement on effort sharing reached by the European Council and the European Parliament on 21 December 2017.
Answered by Claire Perry
The provisional agreement reached on the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) in December 2017 does not set out emission reduction targets for each sector of the economy. Rather, the ESR sets an overall commitment to reduce emissions across the EU by 30% on 2005 levels by 2030 in the sectors covered by ESR; this includes the transport, waste, agriculture and buildings sectors. Each Member State’s actual target for their ESR sectors will vary as the effort needed to meet the EU target is allocated to Member States according to their GDP with an adjustment for cost effectiveness (e.g. the UK’s ESR target is a 37% reduction).
Under the UK’s Climate Change Act (2008) the UK has more stringent emission reduction targets than its EU target. The UK has already succeeded in reducing its emissions by 42% since 1990 while growing the economy by two thirds. The recently published Clean Growth Strategy set outs how the Government will build on this progress into the 2020s. It notes the progress to date in reducing emissions from waste and outlines a number further initiatives including; our ambition for zero avoidable waste by 2050, publishing a new Resources and Waste Strategy and exploring new and innovative ways to manage emissions from landfill. Further information can be found in the Clean Growth Strategy.
The contribution of the waste sector to meeting the UK’s 2030 emission reduction target will depend on the implementation of the detailed policies the UK adopts to meet its targets.
Whatever our future relationship with the EU, the UK’s commitment and leadership role in tackling climate change remains undimmed and working closely with the EU on this global challenge will remain important. Leaving the EU will not change any of our statutory commitments to reduce our emissions according to the Climate Change Act (2008) which is more ambitious than the UK’s EU target.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Coventry East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which projects have received funding from UK Climate Investments; and how much of that funding has been spent to date.
Answered by Claire Perry
UK Climate Investments has so far has completed one investment, in a partnership platform alongside UK solar company Lightsource BP to fund the development, acquisition and ownership of large scale solar power generation assets in India. The construction of an initial 60MWp project in the Indian state of Maharastra is underway.
UK Climate Investments has earmarked up to £30m in aggregate for this project and for a broader partnership with Lightsource to develop and construct up to a total of 300MW of PV projects. Just over £5.2m has been spent to date by UK Climate Investments on this project, including due diligence and other transaction costs.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Coventry East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many disposable coffee cups were purchased by his Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Department was created in July 2016.
The Department’s catering supplier, Baxter Storey, purchased the following disposable cups for use in the staff restaurants and coffee shops:
Year | No. of cups |
2016 | 60,832 |
2017 | 48,912 |
The Department makes provision for recycling and has specially marked recycling bins throughout the Department.