The Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee has written to Energy
Secretary after promised commitments on the Government's plans
for the Seventh Carbon Budget have failed to materialise.
Mr Miliband previously offered to provide MPs a formal response
to the Committee's request that the Government allow Parliament
to conduct robust oversight of the process for agreeing the next
Carbon Budget, a key part of the UK's preparations to reach net
zero by 2050. This follows a recommendation by the EAC's
predecessor committee, which was accepted by the previous
Government.
Mr Miliband said in oral evidence that the Government would
facilitate a “central role” for the Committee in scrutinising the
Government's Carbon Budget plans.
Carbon Budgets are a series of legally binding limits on the
emissions the UK can produce, in order to reach net zero carbon
by 2050. The Seventh Carbon Budget covers 2038-2042.
The Energy Secretary also offered to give the Committee more
information on the UK's delegation at the COP29 climate
conference, after an investigation revealed it contained 20
fossil fuel lobbyists.
However, after receiving no response to the commitments made by
the Secretary of State, the Chair has today written to Mr
Miliband again. He reiterates his request for a formal response
on Parliament's role in the Seventh Carbon Budget and asks this
be sent “without delay”.
In the letter, the Chair also references other issues not
responded to by Mr Miliband, including detail on the role of
private funding for international climate finance, and the UK's
involvement in a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique.
Both letters are published on the Committee's
website.
, Chair of the Environmental
Audit Committee, said:
“In January, we were encouraged to hear the Secretary of State's
warm words about Parliament's role in scrutinising plans for the
Seventh Carbon Budget.
But those warm words have not yet translated to any form of
detail. What, if anything, will Ministers offer for scrutiny
before Parliament is invited to agree the next Carbon Budget?
Our role must be more than a rubber stamp; we need to know
exactly what the Government intends to do, to reduce emissions
sufficiently by 2042. I therefore urge the Secretary of State to
respond without delay.”
