MP, Chair of the Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
Committee has written to , Chancellor of the Exchequer
with a series of questions concerning reports that Government
estimates have put the cost of meeting the net zero carbon
emissions target by 2050 at £1 trillion.
The letter puts a number of questions to the Chancellor,
including whether Treasury modelling has been conducted on public
expenditure savings that would arise from net-zero (e.g.
reduction in NHS spending from healthier diets, reduced pollution
etc), plans for a Treasury review of how to fund the transition
to net zero, and whether the Treasury will develop a strategy to
ensure the distribution of costs and benefits is fair. The
correspondence also questions how the 5-year review of the net
zero target will be conducted.
Ahead of a BEIS Committee session on net zero with
the Minister on 10th July, the BEIS Chair has
also written to
Minister with a series of
questions about the Government’s approach to achieving net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050, including how the Government intends to
include emissions from international aviation and shipping and
use of international carbon credits.
Background on BEIS Committee’s work
on net-zero
Following the Prime Minister’s commitment to the UK cutting
carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and the publication of the
Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) report, the Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee held a session
on Tuesday
18th June examining the rationale
for going faster to hit the net zero target, hearing from
witnesses including Gail Bradbrook, Extinction Rebellion,
Isabella O'Dowd, Climate and Energy Specialist, WWF, and Baroness
Bryony Worthington, Environmental Defense Fund.
In the first session for the Financing Energy Infrastructure
inquiry on 19 June, with
witnesses from the Committee on Climate Change, National
Infrastructure Commission, and CBI, the BEIS Committee
asked for reactions to the £1 trillion estimate and views on how
the anticipated benefits of net zero compare with the costs
[question 25 onwards].
On Wednesday
8th May, the BEIS Committee questioned the
Committee on Climate Change and business stakeholders on the net
zero target and actions needed to achieve net zero emissions. A
hearing on net zero with a Government Minister is scheduled for
10th July.
The net-zero hearings are part of the Committee’s ongoing work on
the Clean Growth Strategy and complement its current inquiries
on financing energy
infrastructureand on energy efficiency. The
Committee has also carried out inquiries on Carbon Capture Usage and
Storage and on Electric Vehicles.
The BEIS Committee recently joined with five other select
committees of the House of Commons (Environmental Audit; Housing,
Communities and Local Government; Science and Technology;
Transport; and Treasury) to announce plans to
hold a Citizens’ Assembly on combatting climate change and
achieving the pathway to net zero carbon emissions.
