Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of whether the updated Energy Charter Treaty, as agreed by the Energy Charter Conference on 24 June, is compatible with international climate goals; what steps he is taking to encourage other states to sign up to the fossil fuel carve out agreed by the EU and UK when the new treaty is signed in November; and if he will take steps to further amend the timeline for the fossil fuel carve out in order to speed up the withdrawal of (a) protection for all new fossil-fuel investments and (b) all existing fossil fuel investments.

The modernised Treaty recognises the urgent need to address climate change and align with the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement. It also removes the Treaty’s protection for new fossil fuel investments in the UK. The Government welcomes the flexible approach in the modernised Treaty, which allows individual Parties to phase out investment protections for fossil fuels in their own territories in line with respective decarbonisation plans. The Government does not plan to seek to amend the timeline for the fossil fuel carve out, which aligns with the UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050.