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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the (a) scientific and (b) economic basis was for her Department's proposal to move the cement industry into a 75 per cent tier of free allocation in the EU Emissions Trading System; and what account her Department took in developing that proposal of the difficulty of abating process emissions.

The Government supports reform to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) whilst providing continued support for the competitiveness of British businesses as they decarbonise. Sectors at greatest risk of carbon leakage have high carbon costs and are highly exposed to international trade. The proposed tiering scenarios, which are indicative and do not represent a confirmed Government position, are intended to demonstrate how support could be differentiated between sectors at different levels of risk. We recognise the barriers to decarbonisation in the cement sector due to its high proportion of emissions from chemical processes. We will continue to work with the UK cement industry to ensure that its circumstances are reflected in Phase IV of EU ETS.