here - United Kingdom Parliament

1643 6 JUNE 2013
1644
House of Commons
Thursday 6 June 2013
The House met at half-past Nine o’clock
PRAYERS
[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]
Oral Answers to Questions
ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
The Secretary of State was asked—
Per Capita Carbon Emissions
1. David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con): What
recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in
Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland regarding the
level of per capita carbon emissions and the future
policy of those countries. [158073]
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
(Mr Edward Davey): I frequently have talks with my
German, Dutch and Irish counterparts. In April, for
example, I attended informal energy and environment
councils in Dublin, where discussions with other member
states, including Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland,
focused on the EU 2030 climate and energy framework.
David Mowat: The March European Environment
Agency report confirmed that the UK’s per capita
emissions are among the lowest in Europe, and in 2011
they fell at double the rate of those of the rest of the
EU. Furthermore, the recent emissions trading scheme
vote by the European Parliament means the UK has a
carbon price six times higher than the rest of the EU,
and now we are seeing several countries moving ahead
to build coal stations that will not use carbon capture
and storage. Is there a risk that we are increasingly
acting unilaterally in this area?
Mr Davey: Let me reassure my hon. Friend. We work
very closely with our European colleagues, and I formed
the green growth group, currently working with about
nine other member states, including our German and
Dutch colleagues. We need to reform the ETS to make
sure we have a functioning and effective carbon market
in Europe, and we also need an ambitious 2030 target
for greenhouse gas emissions. The UK Government
have agreed that we will seek a 50% target in the context
of winning a global climate change treaty.
Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con):
What is the point of us closing coal-fired power stations
if Germany is opening 20 of them? What is the point of
us having a carbon tax and reducing emissions if we
thereby release trading permits for other countries in
Europe to emit more carbon?
Mr Davey: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for
his question. He is not right about the German position,
and I refer him to the April 2013 report by Pöyry, which
we commissioned and which is on our website. It examines
the reality of what is happening with new coal-fired
power stations in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
Some 10 new coal and lignite coal projects are under
construction in Germany, because the final investment
decisions on them were taken in 2005 and 2008, when
there was a very different policy environment, but four
have been postponed and 22 have now been abandoned,
so the situation in Germany is different from the one my
right hon. Friend describes.
Ian Swales (Redcar) (LD): Carbon emissions per
capita statistics fail to recognise the effect of imports
and exports on consumption. Will the Secretary of
State confirm that he will not seek to meet UK targets
through policies that close down our energy-intensive
industries, thereby exporting jobs and importing carbon?
Mr Davey: My hon. Friend is right. We do not want
to see carbon leakage; that would not help the climate,
and it would not help our economy. That is why I agreed
with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills a very generous package,
working with the Chancellor, to compensate energyintensive
industries for the indirect costs of the ETS
and the carbon price floor, and it is also why we have
exempted energy-intensive industries from the costs of
contracts for difference. We want to ensure we make
progress on climate change, but we also want to ensure
we keep successful businesses in the United Kingdom.
Energy Bills
2. Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab):
What steps he is taking to help households with their
energy bills. [158075]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate
Change (Gregory Barker): This coalition Government
are determined to help hard-working families with the
cost of living. We have a range of initiatives to help with
energy bills. From the Prime Minister’s proposals to get
consumers on to the cheapest energy tariffs to our
flagship green deal, and from the warm home discount
to our promotion of collective switching and building a
more competitive energy market, this Government are
putting the consumer first.
Andrew Gwynne: The Minister must be aware that the
respected think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research
has produced a report that shows that if the energy
market were more competitive, bills could be reduced
by at least £70 from efficiency savings alone, so why will
he not get behind Labour’s plans to break the dominance
of the big six by ensuring that they supply energy into a
pool to enable more businesses to access the market and
to bring down bills for customers?
Gregory Barker: The hon. Gentleman will forgive us
if we do not take lessons on how to widen the big six
from the party that created the big six. When Labour