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Written Question
Methane: Pollution Control
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to help reduce methane emissions from (a) anthropogenic sources, (b) landfills and (c) fossil fuel production.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In the UK, overall greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector have decreased by 74% since 1990. This is mostly due to the implementation of methane recovery systems at UK landfill sites, increasing landfill methane capture rates, and reductions in the amount of biodegradable waste disposed of at landfill sites. In 2022, the waste sector accounted for 4.6% of total UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions, with landfill methane emissions responsible for 80% of the sector’s emissions.

We are committed to tackling these remaining emissions and are exploring options for the near elimination of municipal biodegradable waste being sent to landfill in England from 2028, in line with the commitment in the Net Zero Strategy. Under the Government’s Simpler Recycling reforms, set out within new s45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended by the Environment Act 2021), all households, businesses and relevant non-domestic premises will be required to arrange for the collection of food waste for recycling or composting. Recycling via anaerobic digestion will produce biogas and significant carbon savings over sending food waste to landfill. To explore further measures to achieve our commitment we issued a call for evidence on 26 May 2023 to support detailed policy development. A summary of responses to this call for evidence and further information will be published in due course.

We are undertaking research to quantify site-specific methane emissions from landfill and update our understanding of residual (non-recyclable) waste composition. Both of these projects will support efforts to further reduce methane emissions from landfill sites and report our emissions in line with UNFCCC guidelines.

Defra considers that Methane Suppressing Feed Products (MSFPs) are an essential tool to decarbonise the agriculture sector. In England, our objective is to establish a mature market for these products, encourage uptake and mandate the use of MSFPs in appropriate cattle systems as soon as feasibly possible and no later than 2030. We are committed to working with farmers and industry to achieve this goal, and in early March convened the inaugural meeting of a Ministerial-led industry taskforce on MSFPs.

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR) provide wide-ranging powers to control emissions to air, water and land from regulated installations through permits. Methane is a pollutant under the EPR and, where relevant, industrial installations must comply with EPR permit conditions to control and monitor methane.

In the 2020 Energy White Paper, the Government committed to the World Bank’s ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ initiative which aims to eliminate routine flaring from oil production globally.

Through the North Sea Transition Deal and the industry’s subsequent Methane Action Plan, UK industry has committed further to accelerate compliance with the World Bank's initiative where possible, set a 50% methane reduction target by 2030 (against a 2018 baseline) and have adopted the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s methane intensity target of 0.2% by 2025.

Emissions associated with methane venting and flaring are accounted for in our binding domestic carbon budgets.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) already expects methane emissions to be as low as possible, and for all new developments to be developed on the basis of zero routine flaring and venting, (and to be either electrified or electrification-ready).

All platforms are expected to have zero routine flaring and venting from or before 2030.

The consenting process for flaring and venting is administered by the NSTA, which is working with industry to keep non-routine flaring and venting to a minimum.

The NSTA recently consulted on its draft OGA Plan, which included a section on flaring and venting. It is due to publish its response and the final OGA plan soon.


Written Question
Methane: Pollution Control
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of funding is the Government investing in methane reduction technologies.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As announced in the Government’s Net Zero Strategy 2021, we are bringing forward £295 million of capital funding which will allow local authorities in England to prepare to implement free weekly separate food waste collections for all households in England. This will deliver significant carbon savings over sending food waste to landfill.

Methane reduction technologies are within scope of Defra’s £270 million Farming Innovation Programme and were in scope of its predecessor, Farming Innovation Pathways.

While primarily a safety focussed programme, the Health and Safety Executive-led Iron Mains Risk Reduction Programme (IMRRP) is expected to invest approximately £4 billion in replacing iron gas mains with plastic pipework over the current Ofgem price control period (2021-2026), improving safety and reducing methane emissions. By the conclusion of this programme in 2032, it is estimated that the IMRRP will have achieved a 66% reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions from the gas distribution network since the programme commenced in 2013.


Written Question
Renewable Energy: Community Development
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero during Consideration of Lords message on the Energy Bill [Lords] on 18 October 2023, Official Report, column 352, when she plans to publish the consultation on barriers to developing community energy projects.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

We have been codesigning the consultation on the barriers to community energy schemes with the Community Energy Contact Group. We intend to publish the consultation as soon as possible.


Written Question
Energy: Payments
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made a recent estimate of the total cost to (a) consumers and (b) the Exchequer of issuing curtailment payments to energy companies in the last 12 months.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The System Operator is responsible for managing constraints on the networks. It does this by curtailing a type of generation, for example wind, and turning up an alternative generation, as needed. Costs are funded through electricity bills, not through the Exchequer. Annual network constraint costs for 2023 were £1.4bn (2023 prices).

To manage the level of constraints on the system and ensure the UK's homes can be powered by clean, green energy in future, government is working with Ofgem, network owners and others to halve the build process from 14 years to 7 through our Transmission Acceleration Action Plan.


Written Question
Motorcycles: Licensing
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposals to simplify the licensing regime for powered light vehicles contained in the Motorcycle Industry Association report A Licence to Net Zero: Unleashing Our Potential, License Reform Essential: L-Category Licensing Reform Proposals, published in October 2023.

Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government welcomes and is open to discussing ideas for reform of the existing licensing regime for powered light vehicles known as L category vehicles where they do not compromise safety standards.

While there are not currently any plans to reform L category licenses, Ministers and officials have met with motorcycle stakeholder representatives to listen to and discuss various motorcycle initiatives, including ideas for reform. The Minister for Road Transport will meet with the MCIA and other motorcycle stakeholders in a roundtable format on 8 May to this and other issues.


Written Question
Energy Supply: Investment
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to encourage investment in the energy supply chain industry.

Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The recently published BloombergNEF (BNEF) Energy Transition Investment Trends Report (2023) reported that total public and private investment in UK low-carbon sectors in 2023 reached £60 billion rising from £35 billion in 2022. The Government understands the importance of growing domestic energy supply chains, therefore at Spring Budget 2024 £120m funding to the Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA) was announced, in addition to the £960m already allocated. This will support investments in manufacturing capabilities for the clean energy sectors where the UK has clear strengths: carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), hydrogen, offshore wind, electricity networks, and nuclear. The Government is also providing up to £160 million to leverage private investment into the port infrastructure required to support floating offshore wind deployment at scale.


Written Question
HyNet: North West
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the heads of terms agreement between her Department and Eni on the HyNet North West project, if she will publish the economic, regulatory and governance terms.

Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Energy Act 2023 establishes an economic licensing requirement for carbon dioxide transport and storage. The Department published indicative Heads of Terms for the economic licence in December 2023. Ahead of granting an economic licence, the Secretary of State will give notice of her intent to do so in line with the requirements of the Act.


Written Question
HyNet: North West
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what comparative assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) the HyNet North West project and (b) other carbon capture and storage projects of similar size and scale.

Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Track-1 of the Cluster Sequencing process, which was launched in 2021, assessed five CCUS clusters against five key evaluation criteria. Hynet and the East Coast Cluster were the best performing in the assessment and were taken forward to project selection and negotiations.


Written Question
Hydrogen: Production
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what funding assistance they are providing for market structures and mechanisms for supporting increased hydrogen production.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The UK’s strong policy framework – including the Hydrogen Production Business Model, Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard – has created an investable model which has leveraged private investment to kick start the UK’s hydrogen economy.

Government is supporting projects to move the UK closer to our hydrogen ambitions.

In December 2023 we announced 125MW of successful projects from Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR) 1, and have since launched HAR2, aiming to allocate up to a further 875MW in 2025, subject to affordability and value for money.


Written Question
Radar: Wind Power
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress his Department has made on installing military radars that are not affected by floating offshore wind installations.

Answered by James Heappey

Through the Air Defence and Offshore Wind Task Force, Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials are working closely, and collaboratively, with colleagues from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Scottish Government, the Crown Estates and windfarm industry stakeholders to address the problems that future windfarms would cause to MOD's radars.

This joint work is essential to ensure air security of the United Kingdom and supporting the deployment of offshore windfarms that are essential for our nation's future energy security and decarbonisation.

MOD has established Programme NJORD to deliver the technical solutions needed to address the problems that future offshore windfarms, including Floating installations, would have on MOD's Air Defence Radar. A commercial framework of potential suppliers is now in place and MOD will launch the first call-off competitions within this framework later this year.