Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)

According to recently published estimates, just the 16 GW of new nuclear capacity to be built by 2025 will require between £5.5 billion and £12.6 billion a year in finance. That is a huge cost to householders and businesses. Does the Minister agree with those figures, and will he admit that given the constraints of the levy cap, he faces a choice between breaching the renewables directive, breaching the Climate Change Act 2008 and abandoning his increasingly implausible plans for new nuclear build?

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

The key purpose of electricity market reform is to allow the market to make decisions of that sort. As the hon. Gentleman will know, my Ministers and I are extremely supportive of demand reduction and energy efficiency measures, which have a critical role to play in our energy mix, but we also need to bring in new supply. We face rising electricity demand as we electrify the transport and heating sectors in the years ahead to meet our climate change targets, even if we have the most ambitious energy efficiency policies imaginable, so we need both a supply-side and a demand-side response.

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Sandra Osborne

I thank the Minister for that reply and apologise for pre-empting it. When he addressed 400 industry delegates at the renewable energy UK conference the other day, he spoke of the need for clarity and certainty in renewable energy policy to provide the right framework for investment. He then told the media that enough is enough when it comes to wind power. Which of those mixed messages represents the Government’s policy and what will he do to retrieve the situation, which has caused such uncertainty in the industry?

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Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)

Does my hon. Friend agree that Drax provides both clean and renewable energy? Will he see fit to increase the level of investment in and Government support for biomass, which is helping to feed renewable energy into Drax and helping growers in Thirsk, Malton and Filey at the same time?

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Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)

Clean energy infrastructure also includes carbon capture and storage, which is widely supported on both sides of the House. The coalition agreement, lauded by all members of the ministerial team and, I am sure, everyone sitting behind them this morning, made a commitment to fund four commercial scale CCS projects in the UK. Does that commitment still stand?

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Tom Greatrex

I am sure the industry, which has expressed some concern over the past couple of days, will have heard the failure of the Minister to confirm whether those four projects will still be funded. Is he not concerned that without any firm commitment on funding by the UK Government, the prospects of securing the European Commission funding under the NER300 funding stream, which the UK did so much to put in place, are limited? Does he not understand the anxiety of those seeking to develop CCS that his failure to give a clear signal to the Commission could jeopardise access to up to €600 million, which could make the difference, as he says, in ensuring that our lead in CCS is realised?

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Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)

11. What outcome he will be seeking on climate finance at the UN climate talks in Doha in November 2012. ( 126049 )

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

At the climate talks in Doha, as part of a balanced outcome, I want to see a collective commitment from developed countries to maintain climate finance at least at Fast Start levels from 2013. We also want work on mobilising sources of finance to continue to reach the goal of jointly mobilising $100 billion a year by 2020. Finally, we will need to endorse the host country for the green climate fund.

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

I raised it at the pre-COP talks in Seoul. It is a really interesting source of new climate change finance and should be explored alongside other potential revenues. It is absolutely vital that developed countries raise their ambitions in this area. We must show developing countries that we want to support them in this change and that moving to ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions globally is possible and will not stunt growth. Green growth can go together with economic growth, whether in the developed or developing worlds, and we must support those countries.

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Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)

Will the Secretary of State explain whether his energy Minister’s disdain for left-wing bourgeois academics signifies any change in the Government’s commitment to climate change science and, therefore, to seeking the necessary funding?

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

Left-wing bourgeois academics are obviously welcome to contribute to any discussions in this House, because we want to hear from all sides. I must say that climate change scientists are not noted for their political beliefs; they do their work as scientists. They are providing the evidence that the Government, the country and, I hope, the rest of the world will act on. Their scientific results are extremely disturbing. Most recently we have seen what is happening in the Arctic, where the polar ice cap is melting faster than people had previously thought. That is what the scientists are telling us, and we should take it very seriously.

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John Hayes (Conservative)

The Energy and Climate Change Committee, of which the hon. Gentleman is a member, is concerned about that point. We have called for evidence on exactly that subject, too—and for precisely the reasons that lie behind his question. We want to know what the issues and barriers are.

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Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)

13. What steps the Government are taking to stimulate the manufacturing of renewable energy technology in the west midlands. ( 126051 )

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Mr Cunningham

I remind the Minister that Coventry and the west midlands have a strong history of manufacturing and the potential to be at the forefront of developing and producing green technology. What are the Government doing to ensure that the region can develop the skills required and get the financial support to create the capacity to become a major manufacturer of renewable energy?

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Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)

The last time we met at Energy and Climate Change orals, I asked the Secretary of State why he was failing to stand up to his Conservative colleagues who want to kill off the British wind industry. He said:

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

If I may, Mr Speaker, I should like to pay tribute to the great work that my hon. Friend did at the Department in a whole range of sectors and thank him for the support he gave me. He is absolutely right that countries around the world, even those that are richer in oil and gas supplies than ours, are investing in renewable energy, and I think we should continue with that. We should make it clear that this is one of the best places in the world to invest in renewable energy.

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

Since my Department’s previous Question Time, I have attended the pre-COP ministerial climate change talks in Korea. In addition, we have announced the winners of the record-breaking 27th North sea licensing round and the shortlist for our £1 billion carbon capture and storage competition. We have put in place the framework for our flagship green deal energy efficiency programme. We have welcomed the news of Hitachi’s major investment in new nuclear power stations in Britain. Energy UK has reported that energy investment in the UK is running at a 20-year high, including record investment in renewables. As you know, Mr Speaker, I intend this month to introduce the energy Bill, which will reform the electricity market, provide long-term certainty to investors, and ensure that British households and businesses enjoy affordable, secure and clean electricity supplies.

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Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)

T5. Both the Energy and Climate Change Committee and the independent Committee on Climate Change have argued that the Government should set a carbon intensity target for the power sector. Does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree with them? ( 126067 )

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s question. I think that there is a case for a decarbonisation target for the power sector, but that is still subject to ongoing discussion in Government. We are in a coalition and we need to get Cabinet approval for a decision such as this. However, it is worth noting for the benefit of the House that it is not just the Climate Change Committee and the Select Committee that have called for a carbon limit on the power sector by 2020. More than 50 companies, third sector bodies and trade bodies recently signalled their support in an open letter. There is huge support from industry for this measure and I hope that we can win that argument in this House.

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

The hon. Gentleman seems to suggest that there is a lack of transparency in the way in which energy costs are delivered. I have to say that I disagree with him. There are huge amounts of information about the different costs of green energy. He will know that the cost of renewables for bills is tiny and that the cost of energy efficiency schemes, such as the carbon emissions reduction target and the energy company obligation, is significantly greater. The real costs involved in and the real reason energy bills are going up are the rising price of wholesale gas on global markets and the need to invest in our distribution networks that need to be replaced. Those are the real drivers behind higher gas and electricity bills, and people who suggest otherwise should look at the facts.

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Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)

T9. The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), has been instrumental in forcing inquiries into the uncompetitiveness of the oil companies in keeping prices high at the pump. Will he also urge the Treasury to stop the 3p planned fuel duty rise in January, which will cost motorists an extra £60 a year? ( 126071 )

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

I do agree that investment in onshore wind is a serious matter. We need to ensure that industry and investors know that the Government are committed to a long-term, stable and consistent framework. The hon. Gentleman will know that I lead on renewable energy strategy and I decide the policy, and the industry has heard that.

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Graham Stuart (Conservative)

This country accounts for 2% of global carbon emissions, and that level is falling. It is, therefore, essential that we engage with countries around the world that have larger emissions. When did a Minister from the Department of Energy and Climate Change last visit China?

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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

I will write to the hon. Gentleman with the exact dates of when a Minister from our Department last visited China. I recently met the relevant Minister from China in London, and in Seoul at the international climate change talks. We are working closely with the Chinese, and they have taken up our 2050 road map calculator for how we can plan to reduce carbon emissions in an ambitious way. Our relationship with China in that area is solid.

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