COP 26 – BEIS Committee publishes Government response to scrutiny of conference preparations report

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has today published the Government’s response [link goes through to report] to the BEIS Committee’s interim report on Net Zero and COP26 (which was published on 5^th March 2021).

Darren Jones, BEIS Committee Chair, has also written to Alok Sharma, COP 26 President (13 May 2021), welcoming the set of goals for COP 26 outlined in the Government response but calling for regular updates to be provided on progress towards these commitments.

Darren Jones, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee said: “Every country must have the same level of access around the negotiation table if COP is going to be a success. It’s therefore crucial that the Government pursues all options to ensure UN COP26 can held be in person, including addressing potential issues relating to disparities in access to covid vaccines.

“That there is continuing uncertainty around whether face-to-face discussions will be possible at COP26 is concerning. We are now only six months away from the COP summit which we hope will bring agreement on a national and international approach to decarbonisation.”

Net Zero and UN Climate Summits: Scrutiny of Preparations for COP26—interim report: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report of Session 2019–21 (HC120) - pdf

[In the Government response linked above, please note the BEIS Committee’s conclusions are in bold type. The Committee’s recommendations are in bold italicised type. The Government response is in plain type.]

Background –

The BEIS Committee interim report, published on 5 March 2021, called for the Government to set out more clearly its ambitions for the COP 26 climate summit, emphasized the need for effective diplomacy for COP26 to be a success, and made recommendations, in the wake of Covid-19 and issues around differing vaccination roll-outs, to help ensure all countries, including those from developing countries, fully participate at COP26 in November.

The BEIS Committee’s report followed up on key commitments made in the Committee’s evidence sessions (including with Alok Sharma, COP President, and Claire O’Neill, former COP President) and, in particular the COP26 President's plans to engage with Parliament in the lead up to the COP conference.

Net zero and UN climate summits: Scrutiny of Preparations for COP26 – interim report Third Report of Session 2019–21 Report, HC 1265 (Published on 5 March 2021)

Editor’s Notes

Background – BEIS Committee work relating to climate change, ‘net zero’, COP 26, and the Climate Assembly

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee is leading the Parliamentary scrutiny of COP 26. It has a standing inquiry for the Parliament on the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ target and the UN Climate Summits and in this Parliament has held sessions examining the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) 2020 Progress Report & the Climate Assembly UK Interim Report, as well as progress to the COP26 Climate Summit.

On 5^th March, the BEIS Committee published an interim report on Preparations for COP26 as part of its Net zero and UN climate summits inquiry.

The BEIS Committee inquiry on the UK ‘Net Zero’ target and the UN Climate Summits inquiry is considering issues including:

• Progress in delivering the UK’s 2050 net zero target;
• Progress in cutting emissions to meet the UK’s five-yearly Carbon Budgets;
• The role of BEIS in leading climate change mitigation policy across Government;
• The potential role of business and industry in the net zero agenda;
• Preparations for the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow, and the UK’s performance as Summit host;
• The ongoing role of the UK in international climate talks and initiatives to tackle climate change.

Climate Assembly UK

On Monday 19 April, the BEIS Committee published a terms of reference for its Climate Assembly inquiry.

Darren Jones, BEIS Committee Chair, welcomed Climate Assembly UK’s final report published in September 2020, in the House of Commons. The Climate Assembly final report set out a clear, internally consistent and timely path for how the UK can reach its legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050. Climate Assembly UK’s report showed how a representative sample of the population believe the UK should meet its net zero emissions commitment with detailed recommendations across ten areas including: how we travel; what we eat and how we use the land; what we buy; heat and energy use in the home; how we generate our electricity; and greenhouse gas removals.

The BEIS Committee was one of six select committees of the House of Commons (joining Environmental Audit; Housing, Communities and Local Government; Science and Technology; Transport; and Treasury) to support Climate Assembly UK, a citizens’ assembly on combatting climate change and achieving the pathway to net zero carbon emissions.

Decarbonising heat inquiry

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is currently undertaking an inquiry examining the path to decarbonising heating in homes. The Committee’s inquiry on decarbonising heat followed a successful pitch by Dr Jan Rosenow, Principal and European Programme Director, Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), at the Committee’s “MyBEIS” evidence hearing in July and is part of the BEIS Committee’s ongoing work on net zero and its follow-up to the findings of the Climate Assembly.

Post-Pandemic Economic Growth ‘super-inquiry’

In a separate but related inquiry, launched in June 2020, on Post-Pandemic Economic Growth the BEIS Committee will be looking at the options available to Government to secure our economic recovery from the impact of Covid-19; covering investment, industrial strategy, jobs, skills, exports and sustainable growth.