, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy (BEIS) Committee, has commented on the
publication of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green
Industrial Revolution.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee Chair,
, said: “The PM’s plan is welcome but must
only be the beginning of the action needed to tackle climate
change, boost the prospects of a green recovery, and create net
zero related jobs. I hope the Chancellor, having scrapped the
longer-term spending plans which could have put rocket-boosters
under these plans, will ensure the Spending Review backs up the
PM’s words and starts to deliver the investment needed to help
meet our climate goals.
“The Climate Assembly was supportive of moving forward the
ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and the 2030 target
is a welcome step. However, it’s clear that more detail will be
needed from Government on the policy and investment front to
spell out how this will support manufacturing jobs in the UK and
also deliver the EV charging infrastructure to make the 2030
target a reality.
“The BEIS Committee has been examining some of the
fundamental issues around post-Brexit carbon trading and the
suggestions of a move to a carbon tax. Given the short amount of
time before the end of the transition period, it’s vital for the
business community, and for our efforts to reduce carbon
emissions, that the Government comes forward with answers soon on
carbon pricing.
“The PM is saying the right things on the ambitions to make
our homes warmer and more energy efficient, but this is the big
challenge which needs decisions and policies within the timescale
of this Parliament. Achieving the Government’s net zero target
demands that we move to decarbonising all buildings by 2050.
Heat-pumps are only part of the solution. We look forward to
seeing the detail of the Government’s heat strategy and hope that
it matches the PM’s rhetoric by tackling some of the big issues
around heating and energy use in the home.
“I hope the Government will come forward with broader support
for industrial decarbonisation beyond the signals on carbon
capture and on hydrogen. If this is a ‘Green Revolution’ we need
an industrial decarbonisation strategy to go along with it and we
need all of Government & Whitehall to be joined up to deliver
it.
“As a Committee, we look forward to examining the details of
the PM’s plans and the proposals relating to business, energy
& industrial strategy, and to also taking a close eye to the
Government’s leadership efforts on climate change in the run up
to COP26”.
Background – BEIS Committee work relating to emissions
trading, climate change, ‘net zero’, and COP 26, and the Climate
Assembly
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
Committee has a standing inquiry for the Parliament on
the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ target
and the UN Climate Summits and, having previously
held sessions examining the Committee on Climate Change (CCC)
2020 Progress Report & the Climate Assembly UK Interim
Report, the BEIS Committee will be holding a session in early
December on COP and Net Zero (witness details to
be announced shortly).
In a separate but related inquiry, launched in June, 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.
In October, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy launched an
inquiry examining the path to decarbonising
heating in homes.
The BEIS Committee recently held evidence sessions looking at the
future of carbon pricing and UK arrangements for
an emissions trading scheme (ETS), including a
session with MP, Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth.
Following the session, , BEIS Committee Chair, wrote to
the Minister with a series of questions relating to the
post-transition period regime for UK carbon pricing.
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 the Climate Assembly
UK, a citizens’ assembly on combatting climate
change and achieving the pathway to net zero carbon emissions.
, BEIS Committee Chair, welcomed the Climate
Assembly UK’s final
report published in September, 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.
