Extracts from Parliamentary Proceedings - Oct 24
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Extracts from Lords Grand Committee debate on International
Solar Alliance: Framework Agreement Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
(GP):...My excitement came from the ambitions of the International
Solar Alliance. It is an international agreement, formed at the
United Nations by treaty between 121 states. Importantly, the
alliance is being led by India, which makes it the first
large-scale climate initiative to be led by a developing country.
Together the signatories seek to raise $1...Request free trial
Extracts from Lords Grand
Committee debate on International Solar Alliance: Framework
Agreement
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP):...My excitement came from the ambitions of the International Solar Alliance. It is an international agreement, formed at the United Nations by treaty between 121 states. Importantly, the alliance is being led by India, which makes it the first large-scale climate initiative to be led by a developing country. Together the signatories seek to raise $1 trillion US dollars for investment in solar power, and by 2030 the treaty aims to provide affordable green energy to a billion people who do not currently have any electricity. These are lofty goals and a considerable source of excitement. They demonstrate an understanding that green investment gives the opportunity to significantly increase the living standards of the world’s poorest while protecting the ecological resources on which all our livelihoods depend. So far, all good... ...The focus is placed on developing our bilateral relationship with India, with this being a nice green gesture to move that along. It seems to me that the largest contribution that our Government will be making is creating new commercial opportunities and investment opportunities for UK business. My conclusion from the Explanatory Memorandum is that we are signing up to yet another impressive-sounding green initiative but then doing absolutely nothing of substance. I find this deeply disappointing and a continuation of this Government’s “promise big; deliver disaster” approach to green issues... Lord Teverson (LD):...I thought that this alliance and the agreement itself were good news globally at a time when we have bad news in terms of climate change, with the international consensus rather falling apart in this area. I also welcome the fact that India is the leader in this. I have to say that the history of India in climate change talks internationally has not been great. In fact the country was a blocker of some of the earlier global agreements on climate change—for good reason, in many ways, in that as a developing nation it sees the problem is one that has arisen from industrialised, developed countries and one that we are now throwing back to economies such as India to help us to solve, having been profligate in terms of our emissions in the past. Indeed, as the memorandum states, there are still issues in India with regard to the development of solar through protection in tariffs and in terms of wanting, understandably, to have its own internal solar industry rather than rely, as much as the rest of the world does, on China’s production... ...The Green Investment Bank, which I was sad to see privatised recently, particularly when we have the challenges ahead that we do, is a manager of a British government fund, possibly through the Foreign Office, which has made investments in India quite recently. I would be pleased to understand whether the rest of that programme will coinvest British government money in this area and whether that programme will continue. I very much welcome it, even though placing some of that money has been quite difficult.
The irony of this treaty is that India is asking us to do this. Given
our colonial background, India has decided that because the
remains of our empire are scattered across the tropics, we
should be a part of this agreement. Some of my question comes
back to what the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, said. Are we at
least going to use our leverage and resources and give our
help and assistance to some of those overseas territories
that are within the tropics? Are we going to be practical in
making this agreement and alliance work for our overseas
territories that are in the region of concern for this
alliance? ...I turn to the points raised during the course of the debate. I will start in reverse order because they piled up as they were received. The noble Lord, Lord Collins, asked about the UK contribution directly. We are not yet a full member so we cannot currently contribute. We are in discussions with the ISA about a secondment opportunity so that UK expertise can begin to work directly with institutions in India. This is alongside the aligned partners already signed on for working with renewables and investment in the City and we will consider further contributions in due course.... ...The noble Lord, Lord Teverson, asked specifically about the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Chagos Islands. We have regular dialogues with the overseas territories: there are Joint Ministerial Councils that are chaired by my noble friend Lord Ahmad and which I attend as the Minister responsible for some of the islands that are eligible for overseas development assistance. Of course, their attentions have been focused on the consequences of climate change, including hurricanes in the Caribbean last year. There was certainly a lot of interest and support for doing more on this. We are having discussions on the development of geothermal on Montserrat and about solar and wind on St Helena. These are very important elements...
...It might be helpful for the Committee to note that at the ISA
General Assembly on 5 October the restriction on members having
to have a territory within the tropics was removed from the
original provision. It is correct that France and India established the ISA in 2015 in
Marrakesh, but it is incorrect to suggest that the UK is slipping
behind France. More solar is installed in the UK than in France.
Significantly, 4% of all EU solar investment is from the UK. In
the first half of this year, one in five EU electric vehicles was
sold in the UK, second only to Germany... Lord Teverson:...Perhaps I can give the Minister good news. He may not be aware of this but UK Climate Investments is the organisation in question. The British Government, along with Lightsource Renewable Energy and UK Climate Investments, part of the Green Investment Group, are putting in the seed asset for the partnership that will lead to a 60-megawatt project in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The Government have made that investment this year and I congratulate them on that programme, but I was interested to understand what else they would manage to deliver in future.
Baroness Jones of
Moulsecoomb:...The noble Lord, Lord Bates, talked about the road map and I
would be interested to hear more about that. I am sure that there
are links which I can refer to. We cannot live
on past glories. I realise that some of the things he talked
about are happening not because of the Government but in spite of
the Government. People like me have put solar panels on their
houses in spite of the Government slashing feed-in tariffs simply
because the technology is becoming cheaper. The Government should
support solar panels. I lived on a semi-tropical island in the
Seychelles for six years and I am well aware of the impact that
climate change is going to have on many islands in
the Indian Ocean, as well as other places.
Even a small rise will mean the loss of a lot of land because
many of the islands’ perimeters are quite shallow. That in turn
will mean the loss of livelihoods. I can well understand why the
small island states are extremely anxious about the fact that we
are such big polluters. It is up to us as well as places such as
China, India and the USA to make sure that
we limit our disastrous carbon emissions. One of the points made
in the UN report is that we have to reduce inequality and
poverty. That will be a major factor in helping to reduce our
impact on the planet. It is something that I believe in very
strongly as well. Most of these states do have a source of
energy. The tides are small, the waves are often big, but of
course they have the sun, so solar energy is a way to find more
energy... Extract from Oral answer (Lords) on Brexit: Economic Forecasts Lord Howell of Guildford (Con): My Lords, in dealing with this Question, would it not be best to ask what will happen to the European Union over the next 10 years? Visegrad countries are pulling away, nationalism is growing in many European member states, Italy is considering whether it should leave the European Union, and Greece continues to have difficulties. Would it not be wise for us to work for a modern and completely different kind of European co-operation in the future, which might be better for Europe and us?
The Minister of State, Department for International
Development (Lord Bates) (Con): My noble friend speaks
with great knowledge and expertise in these areas. Of course, one
of his points is the one I made right at the beginning: the
fastest-growing economies will be outside the European Union.
Last year, our exports to India rose by 31% and to China by 15%.
Those are significant sums. Not just the UK but the EU needs to
wake up to the competition around the world, and to ensure that
we have markets that can compete in that new environment.
Extract from Committee
stage (Commons) of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation
and Exercise of Functions) Bill |