Extracts from Parliamentary proceedings - Nov 14
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Extract from report stage (Lords) of the Space Industry Bill Lord
McNally (LD):...The IADC is a representative body. Its membership
includes all the big players—Russia, the United States, China,
ourselves, the European Space Agency, India, Italy, France,
Japan, Ukraine. It is the right body to take these matters forward
and the amendment is welcome... To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE Extract from Westminster Hall debate on the Marine Environment
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield)...Request free trial
Extract from report stage
(Lords) of the Space Industry Bill
Lord McNally (LD):...The IADC is a representative body. Its membership includes all the big players—Russia, the United States, China, ourselves, the European Space Agency, India, Italy, France, Japan, Ukraine. It is the right body to take these matters forward and the amendment is welcome... To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE Extract from Westminster Hall debate on the Marine Environment Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op):...I want to cover four things: plastics, overfishing, oil and petrol, and then come back to the big picture of climate change. We are sometimes too polite, aren’t we? If we look back over 400 years, we in Britain, as the earliest industrialised nation, with the greatest sea power, have not been good at keeping the global environment clean. I think we chopped down most of our trees to build warships. The biggest problem today is that as China is the most polluted country, followed by India, and then the United States, if we do not work with those large countries, everything we do in the United Kingdom will be of much less value. We need international co-operation, but not in a colonial way, pitching up in any country—even in Russia, which is a great polluter—and saying, “You should do what we do”. They would point to us and say, “Well you don’t have a very good record. You’re a late convert”. We are late converts, but we know a great deal now about how to change the environment in which we live and make it more sustainable... ...I was coming to the conclusion of my remarks, but I want briefly to skate through some points. There is a danger that we get obsessed only with the plastics. The broader pollution is much greater. We know, as does anyone who has been following the science, that it is the acidification of the marine environment and the warming of the temperature of the seas and oceans that is taking its toll. That is what we must tackle, and on a global level. It is all right blaming the Chinese, the Russians or the Indians, but we must start at home, spreading good practice and sharing innovation and good science, in the most co-operative spirit possible... Richard Benyon (Newbury) (Con):...I was extremely pleased to see President Obama with John Kerry, his Secretary of State, at his side announcing a marine protected area around Hawaii. It was fantastic that they did that. By comparison, Britain announced an area the size of India, vastly larger than the United States marine protected area, but it was sort of put out as a press release on a Friday night when no one was looking, as though it was the love that dare not speak its name... The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey):...The risk of global CO2 emissions is a greater threat. As hon. Members highlighted, there has unfortunately been a change in the output of China and India. To tackle that issue, we need to work together globally. We need to save ocean life and the very planet we all inhabit... To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE Written statement on Hydrofluorocarbon Greenhouse Gases The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey): I am pleased to inform the House that the United Kingdom has completed ratification of an amendment to the United Nations’ Montreal protocol. The Kigali amendment requires a phase-down of the production and use of hydrofluorocarbon greenhouse gases (HFCs) over the next three decades in order to mitigate climate change. Agreed in Kigali, Rwanda in October 2016 by 197 parties to the protocol, the amendment commits the UK and other developed countries to reduce HFCs by 85% between 2019 and 2036. The Montreal protocol is the international treaty agreed in 1987 to protect the stratospheric ozone layer. UK scientists played a key role in discovering the hole in the ozone layer and it was the Conservative Government in the 1980s which pushed hard for international action to protect it. This year the protocol celebrates its 30th anniversary. It has so far succeeded in phasing out 98% (by potency) of the chemicals responsible for damaging the ozone layer, protecting human health, agriculture and the wider environment. These chemicals include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and were principally used in refrigeration, air conditioning, aerosols, insulation foams, fire extinguishers and various other industrial applications. As a result of their phase-out, the ozone layer is showing the first signs of recovery. The main family of replacement chemicals, HFCs, do not damage the ozone layer but are potent greenhouse gases, with a global warming potential ranging from hundreds to thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide. The growth of refrigeration and air conditioning in developing countries means HFC use could have amounted to as much as 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. With the increasing availability of HFC alternatives for most uses, the UK is already committed to cut HFC usage by 79% by 2030—among the most ambitious phase-downs in the world. The Kigali amendment will enter into force on 1 January 2019 provided at least 20 countries have ratified it by then, else it will enter into force 90 days following the 20th ratification. Once the amendment has entered into force, this will mean the rest of the world will be following our lead in phasing down HFCs, making a major contribution to addressing climate change and helping level the playing field for UK businesses. It is estimated that this deal will avoid cumulative emissions equivalent to between 74 billion and 84 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, which equates to the output of over 700 coal fired power stations operating between now and 2050. In turn that is likely to avoid close to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of this century, making a major contribution to the Paris climate agreement goal of keeping the global temperature increase well below 2 degrees. The UK played a central role in agreeing the deal, and is now one of the first nations in the world to ratify this ground-breaking UN agreement. The key elements of the amendment are as follows. Developed countries will meet the following phase-down commitment: By 2019, production and consumption of HFCs will be reduced by 10% relative to the amount of HFCs produced or consumed in the years 2011 to 2013, plus an additional allowance of 15% of the baseline used for their phase-out of HCFCs. By 2024, the amount will be reduced by 40% and then by 70% by 2029, 80% by 2034 and finally 85% by 2036. All developing countries, except India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Iraq will meet the following phase-down commitment: By 2024, production and consumption of HFCs will be limited to 100% of the average amount of HFCs produced or consumed in the years 2020 to 2022, plus an additional allowance of 65% of the baseline used for their phase-out of HCFCs. By 2029, this amount will be reduced by 10% and then by 30% in 2035, 50% in 2040 and finally 80% by 2045. Production and consumption established before 2020 will be eligible for financial support from developed countries to help with the transition to low global warming alternatives. India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Iraq will meet the following phase-down commitment By 2028, production and consumption of HFCs will be limited to 100% of the average amount of HFCs produced or consumed in the years 2024 to 2026, plus an additional allowance of 65% of the baseline used for their phase-out of HCFCs. By 2032, this amount will be reduced by 10% and then by 20% in 2037, 30% in 2042 and finally 85% by 2047. Production and consumption established before 2024 will be eligible for financial support from developed countries to help with the transition to low global warming alternatives. Certain Gulf countries and others with high average temperatures will be able to exempt large-scale air conditioning from the phase-down requirements if they believe suitable alternatives are not available for their climates. There will be a review of the availability of technologies which use alternatives to HFCs in 2022 and every five years thereafter to inform any necessary adjustments to the phase-down schedule. There will also be a review four to five years before 2028 specifically to consider whether those countries which have to cap HFC production and use by 2028 need a compliance deferral of two years due to faster HFC growth than anticipated. |