Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of ending the free allocation of UK Emissions Trading Scheme permits for oil and gas companies.

UK ETS industrial participants, such as those in oil and gas sectors, are provided with free allocations reducing their exposure to the carbon price and mitigating the risk of carbon leakage. The UK ETS Authority is in the process of reviewing the free allocation policy and consulted last year on elements of this. The Government will publish the response in due course.

The Government will also be consulting later this year on potential changes to the methodology for distributing free allocations and ways to target those most at risk of carbon leakage.